Me Before you {Peter Hale}

V

So my attempt on solving this problem was to simply pick the most elegant things I owned and throw them all together.
My best blue jeans as well as a beige V-neck pullover.
Luckily, I've even brought my favourite necklace which I only wore in special occasions. Not to forget the matching gold earrings I always wore.
Both were heirlooms of my grandmother which she obtained from her grandmother and so on.
I wore the earrings all the time, yet since the necklace resembled the ancient Victorian times centuries ago, I couldn't bring myself to wear it regularly.
The last time I had put it on was well Prom. Better be honoured and serious about us, Peter.
"Or I will kill you", I said quietly. And I mean every word of it.

The earrings had a round coin shape with a triskelion engraved in it. A triskelion or triskele if one preferred, was a symbol of Nordic cultures with three equal spirals. I didn't exactly know why, though it has been a symbol of my family for decades.
There was something oddly fascinating about it, I couldn't even find the right words to describe it. The grandmother of my father used to say it always symbolized something special.
Special wasn't exactly specified.

I looked at myself in the mirror, smiling contently. Despite the somewhat basic individual pieces, it could pass through as a look.
One last glance before I turned around, grabbed my already packed beige handbag and put on my black patent leather shoes as well as a raincoat. Of course not to forget an umbrella.
The struggle for this one coffee should better be worth it.

The café itself wasn't too far way, only ten minutes or so. Luckily, there weren't so many people around, so I could easily find a space for my Agyo without searching desperately for a parking. That was at least one advantage of a smaller town.
Frankly, while driving to our date — could one even consider it a date? — the palms of my hand decided to sweat every last ounce of water out of my body. On top of that, my heart raced like a maniac. Just a small comparison: Usually, those were typical symptoms of drug abuse.
Certainly, I did not take any before coming here.

I didn't do any hard drugs. Coffee was an exception, especially since the effect had decreased so much over the past years, merely higher than nought.
Eventually, even the heavy rain drops weren't able to calm me down in which they typically excelled at. Nerve wrecking didn't even come close to the condition I've found myself in.
Well, why exactly did I agree again on this meeting?
Too late to regret.

" You can do that, Ava. Confidence. Confidence. Be confident and show this guy how extraordinary you are", I pep talked myself once again before finally stepping out of my car for good. Off I go.
From my car to the Café there were still a couple of meters left I had to finish by foot. The rain didn't bother me, it never had. I enjoyed this soothing feeling of water dashing against my bare skin. My eyelids shut themselves almost immediately. Perhaps, partly because it cooled my whole body temperature down.

" You don't look like you need an umbrella, Ava. Still, I will offer you one if you guess correctly who I am." A voice whispered into my right ear. If I hadn't known to whom it belonged, I would have tried to either run away or punch him. Yes, this voice definitely was male. And since only one man in this town was known to me, I was pretty convinced who was talking to me.
" That's such an honourable gesture of you " I responded smilingly, my eyes continuing to be closed. " Peter, stop with those loaded questions. " There is only you.

By opening my eyes, I had perfect vision of the man inviting me to a coffee. He wore the same black coat as back as in the parking lot. This time combined with a red shirt right beneath, in his hair loosely some gel.
" Why is it a trick question? I just wanted to know how many other men you are potentially seeing besides me, isn't it understandable? " He said while offering his arm, so I could put my hand through his. His cologne reached it all the up to my nose leaving nothing but a grand, alluring cloud in my head.

" It totally makes sense now. You see, after this date, I will go to other three ones as well. " I'm totally this type of person. Look at me and my handful of belongings.
" Why do I get the feeling this irony merely fit the description of irony and rather was meant sarcastically. " A smirk found its way into his face.
" Because this may or may not have been my intention to begin with. I'm all ears for your interpretation. "Now we both were smiling at one another. Lovely.

" Alright, then we have at least a good conversation opener. " And with those word, he guided me subtly but also firmly to the café which wasn't exactly a café, rather an Italian noble restaurant. I swallowed hardly. Bye, bye money. We were never friends to begin with.
Peter seemed to notice my uneasiness as we were sitting down, although to be fair he tried his best to make me feel comfortable at all costs.
" You don't look like you would enjoy this trip so far?", he asked before handing me the menu card.

" It's alright." I automatically responded. It always is, "I'm just not used to go out to such fancy places", I responded embarrassed while checking my porte-monnaie again to make sure I wouldn't spend too much. Forty dollar ought to be enough, for the sake of this date I even ate less to make sure I could spend more than Fifteen bucks.
Mission succeeded I assumed.