Call My Name

“Hi, beautiful,” he says every so sweetly and with the most adorable smile.

I blushed of course, and said, “Hey…”

After I walked out of the front door, and locket it behind me, he took my hand in his.

We began walking down the porch steps and past my driveway when I realized his car wasn’t parked in my driveway and was still at his driveway across the street. When we walked past his house, I was totally confused.

“Uhh, aren’t we going to take your car?”

“No, we’re walking. It’s not that far away. Just a little more walking and then we’ll be there in no time.”

I let out a loud sigh so he could hear me. I hate walking...

When we got to the end of our street we turned and walked into the woods…I didn’t even bother asking him about it, because I know he’d say something like, ‘you’ll see’.

Then…I realized…I was alone with Aaron. I was holding hands with one of the hottest boys I’ve ever seen in my life (not that I would tell him that), and actually alone with him. I smiled at that, and when my head was going through all the memories I’ve had with him (good and bad), I smiled more and more, as each memory came rolling in.

Aaron looked at me, and laughed a little. “Why are you so smiling so big?”

I immediately stopped smiling. Great, he probably thinks I’m a total dork…smiling all big and whatnot. “I…well…” I didn’t know how to say it exactly… “I…I think you are really sweet and adorable...I like you this way. I like the sweet side, more than your jerky slash cocky side.”

“What are you talking about? I’m always adorable.” He laughed when he saw me roll my eyes and said, “Just kidding,” in between laughs.

I saw an opening a ways ahead that was shinning. When we got closer to the opening I could hear the occasional cars go by, past the road behind this elegant building. We were obviously coming in from the back of the building. It was this sage color, with a tan roof, and white lights all around it, and the trees by it, were even coated with these beautiful lights. It looked more like a house than just a regular building. Then, I saw the sign.

L'amore è la ricetta

This must be a restaurant!

I heard low music playing, no singing, just instrumental. But it was gorgeous. When we got to the steps of the place, I smelled the most wonderful smell. I smelled bread, Alfredo, coffee, and even chocolate! I inhaled I guess a little too loud, and Aaron looked at me and laughed a little. “We haven’t even gotten into the door, and you’re already inhaling the smell? Should we leave? You might get addicted to the amazing smelling, delicious food.”

I looked at him, and said, “No way! I want to eat here! So what if I get addicted. You made me walk here, so I get to eat here.”

He laughed and smiled, “Alright then.”

We walk in and the inside is just as breathtaking as the outside. There were people eating, talking, and laughing, all seeming to have a great time. It wasn’t loud though. It was a small place with only 7 tables. There was only one table available, and it was by this gorgeous painting. The painting had a woman in a red dress, and she was in a garden surrounded by the most beautiful plants and flowers. She was bent down, sniffing one of the flowers, and smiling. It was just really pretty.

The walls inside were a warm, soft yellow. The white lights were also along outlining the ceiling, and there were some in other places, but not as much as the outside had. Each table had a white candle burning softly in the middle of the table, with roses around it. The table clothes were white, and the chair were sage colored.

A woman with brown, long, wavy hair came up to us and said with a heavy Italian accent, “Ciao, table for two?”

Aaron nodded, and said, “Yes, please.”

She grabbed two menus and said, “Va bene, right this way.”

She led us to the table by that beautiful painting and asked us what we wanted for drink. Aaron ordered Dr. Pepper, and I ordered Coca Cola.

When she left, I looked at him with amazement. “This place is so beautiful. I never even knew it existed.”

“Yeah, a lot of people don’t. My grandparent’s own this place.”

“Really? That is so cool! I’m guessing they’re Italian?”

“Yes, but they moved down here before my dad was even born, so that’s why he doesn’t have an accent, nor do I or my brother.”

Our waitress came back with our drinks and delish-smelling bread. I looked at her name tag…

Adalina

She asked us if we were ready to order and we asked for more time. She said that was okay, and went to go check on the other customers.

When she left we both went for the bread at the same time, and left at that. As we were buttering our bread, I asked, “Okay so what’s your favorite thing to get here?”

“Hmm…All the food is good here, but my favorite would be the shrimp Alfredo. See it’s right here.” He leaned over and pointed to where it was on the menu. It did not say ‘shrimp alfredo’, it said Gambero Alfredo.

“I’m guessing that ‘Gambero’ is Italian for ‘shrimp’?”

He nodded and said after he swallowed some of his bread, “Yup.”

“Okay well then I’ll get that. Every time I go to an Italian restaurant, I always order Chicken Alfredo, but I’ve never thought about the shrimp Alfredo, which is weird, because I loove shrimp. Now do they serve these meals on like HUGE plates or is it a regular-sized meal?”

“I would say it’s huge-sized. Would you like to share?”

“Yes, please!”

The waitress came back to take order, and Aaron told her what we would like. When she finished writing it on her notepad, she smiled and winked at us, “Okay, we’ll get that right out for you.”

She was a cool waitress. I liked her.

When she left, I asked Aaron what the restaurant name meant.

“It means, ‘Love is the recipe”, instead of you know, that saying. ‘Love is the key’, it’s the recipe instead. As you can see, my grandparents made the whole restaurant around love. It has the soft colors, the candles, the paintings, the music, everything. They’re into that ‘finding your soul mate’ and ‘forever’ thing.”

“Aw that’s really awesome! You must be lucky to have awesome grandparents like that, who have such a beautiful restaurant and believe so strongly in love.”

He nodded chewing a piece of bread, “Mhmm.”

We talked about other things and then 15 minutes later, our food came out. It was HUGE. The plate was so long that it stretched from Aaron across the table to ME, and close enough that it was like our own plate. We only ate half of it because we were saving room for the supposedly ‘AMAZING’ Tiramisu.

It was amazing. The Tiramisu just melted in my mouth. We ate all of that and boxed up the rest of the shrimp Alfredo.

Aaron didn’t even have to pay the bill, because this was his grandparent’s restaurant.

We said good-bye and thank you to Adalina, and walked out the door, on our way back to my house.

When we got to my door, Aaron held out the box of food to me and said, “Would you like to keep the shrimp Alfredo in your fridge and save it to eat for later?”

“Yes! Thank you,” I said, and took it from his hands.

I unlocked the door and let him in, while I go put the food in the fridge. I come back out and walk over to him, where he is standing by the door looking at me and smiling.

I gave him a big hug, and said, “Thank you so much for tonight. I really enjoyed it.” I kissed him on the cheek, and then slowly pulled my face back to look into his eyes. I could tell that he wanted to kiss me, and I actually wanted to kiss him too. He somehow read my mind, and put one hand under my chin, and the other was cupping the side of my cheek. He pulled my face closer to his, and kissed my lips so softly.

“You’re welcome. I had a great time as well! Good night, Summer.”

He kissed me softly again, then walked out the door, and I said “Good night, Aaron.”

As he walked down the steps, the girl standing at the doorway was speechless, blushing, and had butterflies flying crazily around in her stomach thinking to herself I really, really like him…