Her

4

Desi:

Lin had opened the door for me as we got out of the cab. I look up and I notice a beautiful restaurant filled with silver lights. "Wow," I said speechless. This was truly amazing. "You like it?" He questions, eyeing me slowly, searching for my expression.

"I love this, this is incredible!" I exclaim. "No one has ever taken me somewhere this nice," I say with a chuckle. Lin does too before saying, "I'm glad I was the first one to," I give him a warm smile and we enter the restaurant. Right when we walk in, the receptionist greets us. "Reservation under Miranda," Lin says proudly, showing off his cuteness.

"Right this way," She says with two menus on her hand. We nod and follow her to our table. As we're walking through the restaurant, I can't help but observe its beautiful features. The lights were dimmed, a combination of red and white roses filled it, and it had soft romantic music playing in the background.

When we get to our table, we sit down and start reading our menus. "What do you want to order?" Lin asks me as his eyes scan through the options.

"I think I'm leaning towards the carbonara pasta, you?" I say, looking up at him. For just a split second, our eyes meet and it brings me this sense of peace.

God,

his eyes.

"I think I'll have the same," He comments, closing his menu and setting it down on the table. "Is Italian your favorite food too?" I question him since he told me he took me here because he knew Italian was my favorite.

"Actually, yes. So I guess I mainly took myself here to eat instead of you," He said, sarcasm dripping from his every word. "Shut up, you ass!" I start laughing and he joins me, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He puts his arms up in surrender.

From here on then, we start talking about random shit. And I mean random. But the thing is, I enjoy it, a lot. It was such a chill date, we didn't even have to worry about awkwardness because it wasn't even there! It's like I've known Lin for years and we're just reuniting. We laughed so hard, as if we were teenagers.

My favorite thing about him would have to be his humor, well, after his personality, after his kindness, after his astonishing looks. Who am I kidding? I can't pick a favorite thing about him.

"Anything else we can get for you?" The waiter asked once more, coming up to our table. Lin looked at me, asking me if I wanted anything else and I just shook my head. I was so full and the food was really good.

"That'll be it, just the check please." Lin says to the waiter and lucky for us, the waiter already had the check in hand so he set it on our table. "Thank you," I say and the waiter leaves before saying, "My pleasure," I look at the bill and Lin does the same, I take out my wallet and he grabs my hand, stopping me from paying. "Love, I got it." He reassures me, I just blush uncontrollably.

"No, it's fine," I say and he cuts me off, "I want to pay for this," he says.

"Okay, how about we each pay half?" I suggest. I didn't want him paying for it all. "Deal," He shakes my hand, chuckling, and I do the same. When we finally pay for our dinner, we make our way outside. The restaurant wasn't that far away from our places, so we decide to walk. The ground was slightly wet, since it had rained.

The breeze was soft and when Lin noticed I was slightly cold, he offered me his blazer. I thanked him and we kept talking. I decide to ask him about the meeting today since he hadn't told me anything about it.

"So how did the meeting today go?" I say and he turns his head to look at me.

"Well, um. It went." He chuckled nervously, and you could see the sadness and disappointment mixed in his eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked in a more serious tone now. He let a breath and he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"They rejected my work...again," He trailed off. I stopped and he did the same. "What do you mean they rejected? I mean, how could they? It was amazing!" I say, shocked in disbelief. I read his work earlier and it was so good and coherent.

"They said I wasn't good enough. I should just give up at this point, you know? What's the point of even trying? So I can get rejected? Again, and again, and ag-" He beats himself up and I cut him off. I can't stand seeing him like this.

"Lin, you will try again and again, multiple times. There will be obstacles. If your plan is to give up and then complain about it, you're doing something wrong. If you didn't achieve your goal, then get back up and try again. Anybody who is successful in any way has experienced a lot failures. If they had given up after the first or second time, they wouldn't have become as successful at all." I grab both of his hands without breaking the eye contact. "I believe in you," I say in all honesty. Without a single word being said, he pulls me into the tightest hug I've ever had.

"Thank you, Desi. You've been more supportive in a few days than people I've known my entire life and for that, I am so endlessly grateful." He says, making me smile. I was glad he could trust me. When we both pulled away, we stayed like that for a few seconds. Suddenly, I feel his warm hands go to the back of my neck. He starts to lean in.
Shit, shit, shit.

Lin:

This is it. I'm gonna do it.

I close my eyes and as my lips make contact with hers, the world falls away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. My hand rested below her ear, my thumb caressing her cheek as our breaths mingled. She ran her fingers down my spine, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us and I could feel the beating of her heart against my chest.