What You Want

The whole way home there was a stupid grin on my face at a most unexpected event. The following day, after catching up on some much needed sleep I was all but forced to head into town to go shopping with my friends and grab a late lunch. We were in H&M browsing through the racks when Tori bought up the previous night.

“So how did dinner go last night? Didn’t you tell me Anna was bringing some guy for you to meet?”

“For starters, she didn’t bring a guy I didn’t know, she brought Alexander. I fell asleep as soon as I got home from work and then somehow managed to leave the house on time only to get stuck in traffic for twenty minutes. So when I finally show up and get to the table I find Stephen and Anna on
one side of the booth and Alexander sitting on the other.”

“You’re telling me that Alexander, as in Alexander Skarsgard quite possibly the most attractive man on the face of this planet, is the guy Anna’s trying to hook you up with?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying and you have no idea how much I wanted to question Anna about it when I sat down but I couldn’t exactly do that. I finally caught her alone in the bathroom and she told me that Alexander was the one who set the whole dinner up.”

“What do you mean he set it up?”

“Anna said he was the one who wanted me to come to dinner and I guess that much is true because he paid, telling me it was the least he could do since he was the one who wanted me to be there.”

“What else happened?”

“Anna and Stephen left us standing outside together and basically he asked if he could take me out sometime and I gave him my number.” I replied, browsing through racks of clothing.

“You gave Alexander Skarsgard your number?”

“I highly doubt he’ll call me.”

“Oh please, the man practically told you he planned a dinner just so you would come and said he wants to go out on a date with you.”

“That man totally has a crush on you.” Tori agreed.

“Guys calm down. I highly doubt I’ve enamored the man. He probably just asked me to dinner to be
polite and knew Anna told me that he liked me which made him ask for my number.”

“Would you just face the facts and stop making excuses? You know deep down that man is in love with you and you just don’t want to admit it to yourself.”

“I’m so sure that’s the case.” I said sarcastically.

Tori and Chelsea dropped the conversation after that and we resumed our shopping, much to the disappointment of my checking account. I headed home after I got lunch with the girls and it took me two trips to bring all of my bags inside and upstairs to my bedroom. The hamper of dirty clothes caught my eye and I decided it was probably time for me to do some laundry and also wash my new clothes before putting them away.

A little more than an hour passed before I had washed all of my dirty and new clothes and carted them upstairs to be put away. Of course, I turned on Doctor Who for my entertainment while I was folding clothes but David Tennant proved to be more of a distraction from my chore than I wished.

The sound of my phone blasting Avenged Sevenfold’s “Scream” caused me to drop the pair of jeans I was hanging up and hurry back into the bedroom. Figuring it was either Chelsea or Anna I
jumped across my bed and immediately answered it.

“Isabella, the belle here.”

“Hey Isabella, it’s Alexander.”

At that point, I was rather glad we weren’t speaking face to face because my face was more than likely redder than a tomato with embarrassment.

“Well that’s kind of embarrassing. I didn’t know it was you calling.”

Alexander let out a laugh and I had to suppress my own as I realized how cute he sounded, though it was much better in person.

“I thought it was adorable but I probably should have just told you it was me rather than let you embarrass yourself. I’m actually calling to see if you’d be interested in going out with me tonight.”

“That sounds great. What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe we could go bowling and grab a bite to eat afterwards.”

“Oh, I haven’t been bowling in forever. That sounds like so much fun.”

“Well I thought we could go around seven if that’s ok. I can come pick you up if you’d like.”

“Only if it’s not an inconvenience, I don’t want you to have to go out of your way. I live right outside of Beverly Hills.”

“That’s not out of the way at all, fifteen minutes away tops. I’ll pick you up around six forty-five.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“I’ll see you then Isabella.”

“Bye Alexander.”

There was a large smile on my face as I set my phone down, looking forward to the rest of the night. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was a little past five-thirty giving me barely an hour to get a shower and get ready. Amazingly, I managed to take both a shower and get dressed within that time frame and be completely ready. I had never been one of those girls who could spend hours getting ready but usually when I had a certain time frame to work within I got distracted quicker than anything else and ended up being late.

I had decided on a simple, comfortable outfit, doing my makeup light and putting some scrunch spray in my hair as soon as I got out of the shower. The doorbell rang just as I reached the last step and there was a noticeably skip in my step as I walked towards it. Alexander was standing on the other side, dressed as casually as I was in a pair of jeans and blue V-neck t-shirt.

“You ready to go?”

I reached over and grabbed my purse off the table and punched the code in for the alarm system before smiling and giving Alexander a nod.

“I am now.”

Like the night before, Alexander walked around to the passenger side of the car and opened the
door for me, waiting until I was inside to shut it and walk over to his own side.

“Your house is really nice.” He commented, backing out of my driveway.

“Thanks, it’s my baby as well as my first house. I fell in love with it as soon as the real estate agent showed it to me. It cost me quite the pretty penny though.”

“I think every house in Los Angeles costs a pretty penny. I loved every house that was shown to me
but then my realtor would show me the price. I’m pretty sure that by the time I actually bought a house my eyes were permanently wide for a few months.”

I couldn’t help but laugh because I felt the exact same way when I went house hunting for the first time. I was amazed at how easily the two of us fell into conversation on the way to the bowling alley and I couldn’t help but tease him about the game we were on our way to play.

“I’m just going to let you know that I agreed to go bowling with you on one condition.”

“And just what is that?”

“You have to promise me that you won’t cry too much when I beat you.”

“Is that so?” he questioned.

“Unfortunately, for you it just so happens to be. I may not have been bowling in quite some time but I’m still confident I can cream you.”

“I believe a little wager is in order Ms. Richards.”

“What type of wager?”

“The winner gets whatever he or she wants, within reason of course. The loser must agree to
whatever the winner requests.”

“In that case, I think you better get used to agreeing with me.”

“You better get used to agreeing then.” I replied with a grin.

“You sound so positive you’re going to beat me and you don’t even know if I’m a good bowler.” He
reminded me as he pulled into a parking spot.

“Are you?”

“You’ll just have to wait and find out.”

I somehow managed to pay for both our shoes and games before Alexander could even get to the register. I even requested the empty lane towards the end of the building, because I didn’t want Alexander feeling like he was constantly being stared at if someone recognized him.

Much to my displeasure, I found out that Alexander was pretty much up to par with me at bowling. But I managed to stay ahead of him until the very end of our game when he got two strikes with his last balls.

“I do believe I just won that game.” He grinned.

“You won out of complete luck. Prepare to lose this time.”

Luckily, I did beat him the next game, if only by a few points it was still a win. After the TV above us declared me the winner I couldn’t help but do a quick happy dance earning a laugh from Alexander. A few minutes later I happened to glance over at the other lanes to see at least four girls staring at Alexander. Seeing me looking at them, once shoved her phone into her pocket making me realize she had no doubt been taking pictures.

“Do you want to go ahead and leave?” I asked.

“If it’s alright with you, it’s only a matter of time before someone tips off the paparazzi if they haven’t already.”

“It’s not a problem.”

We quickly returned our shoes and headed back to his Audi, managing to slip off without seeing a
single paparazzo. The two of us unanimously decided to stop at IHOP for a late night dinner since we knew without a doubt it would be open at eleven o’ clock. The hostess sat us in a corner booth far from the few other diners in the restaurant and left us alone after handing over two menus.

“Oh, why did we come here? There are too many things to choose from.” I whined, scanning the menu.

I studiously looked at the menu for at least five minutes before sitting it down on the table and looking at Alexander, who was observing me with a grin.

“What are you going to get?” I questioned.

“I think I’m going to go for the Nutella crepes, with scrambled eggs and bacon.”

“That sounds so good but so does the French toast I’ve been eyeing up on the menu.”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to sharing but only if you’d do the same.”

“I’ll agree to that.”

Without another word, Alexander slid out of his side of the booth and over to sit beside me.

“I can’t share with you from over there. Plus, I was looking for an excuse to get closer to you.”

“All you had to do was say so.”

“I might just have to do that from now on then.”

When our food came Alex slid out of his side of the booth and came to sit beside me.

“I can’t very well share with you from over there. Plus, I just needed an excuse to sit next to you.”

“All you had to do was say so and I would have gladly scooted over.” I grinned.

“Now that you’ve told me that I might just do so from now on.”

Once our food came and our drinks were refilled we were pretty much left alone which was probably a good thing. I’m sure we looked every inch like the perfect couple as we fed each other bites of our food.

“Those are heavenly.” I gushed after Alexander fed me another bit of his crepes.

“I do believe you’re eating more of my crepes than I am.” He teased.

“They’re just so yummy.”

“Well I wouldn’t know since this gorgeous woman sitting next to me keeps forcing me to feed them to her.”

“Aw, so does that mean I get one more bite?”

“I could probably be persuaded.”

“Just what kind of persuasion did you have in mind?” I whispered, not noticing the two of us unconsciously leaning towards each other.

I received no reply from Alexander, being able to only watch as he closed the miniscule distance between us and pressed his lips to mine. As cliché as it sounds, I could feel every cell in my body tingling and it was like fireworks were going off around as our lips moved against each other. The sound of my fork dropping from my hand and hitting my plate seemed miles away. I was just happy it left my hand free to run up his arm, his own running over my hair and down my back. We broke
apart moments later, both breathing heavily with grins.

“I’ll give you the whole plate after a kiss like that.”

A laugh escaped me as Alexander looked down at me with a smile and there was nothing
keeping me from leaning forward and kissing him once again.

“Sitting next to you does have its advantages.”

“It definitely does.”

A few kisses later our plates were empty and Alexander insisted on paying the bill since I took care of our game earlier. A hint of sadness washed over me when Alexander pulled through my gate upon realizing that our night together was coming to an end.

“I had a wonderful time tonight.”

“I did too. I’m glad you agreed to come.”

“What else is a single girl to do when a gorgeous, caring man offers to take her out?”

There was a smile on his face as he walked around the car to open my door. Seeing how amazing and polite he was made me believe that, just perhaps, chivalry wasn’t dead.

“Is it okay if I text you later?” he asked as we stood outside my door.

“As long as you don’t call or text me at three in the morning, I will happily answer anything you have to say.”

“In that case, I promise not to call you at such a time.” He agreed.

We stood there awkwardly for a few moments before our lips pulled us together like magnets.

“I’m going to say goodbye before I do something that’ll get me in trouble.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good night Isabella.”

I glanced at him once more before slipping inside and falling up against the door. A huge sigh escaped me as I told myself I shouldn’t be falling for Alexander as hard and fast as I was. I didn’t want to be a rebound to him, just a girl for him to parade around in the months following his breakup.