Sebring

It was Tuesday, yet again. I wasn’t quite over my heartbreak yet, and the constant questions from my co-workers weren’t helping. I was too embarrassed to tell that I was stood up, so I just shrugged their questions off, claiming that I didn’t ‘kiss and tell’ which was true in some respects, but not in this one. I thought that Austin and I could really be a good match, but he obviously wasn’t the right one. And even though I wanted to be understanding, I couldn’t, I was so upset that Austin had just stood me up and left me in the restaurant hanging like an idiot. He could have called the restaurant since he didn’t have my number, or, you know, he could have shown up.

I looked up when I heard panting at my door. “You have some fast security guys.” It was Austin.

“What are you doing here?” I ask as he takes two steps into my office, looking behind him as he did so.

“I came to apologize.” He stares at me as he fishes in his back pocket, before pulling out a folded piece of paper. “I can explain my douchebaggery.” He sighs and walks over my desk, unfolding the paper as he did so, and sets the paper down in front of me.

The words “Chesterville Animal Clinic” was written at the top, and below it was a list of medical words and price listings. “I don’t understand?”

“My dog, Peeps, he decided to eat my roommate’s girlfriend’s tampon while I was getting ready for our date, and I freaked out. I tried to get all of it out but I wasn’t sure, so I took him to the vet thinking it wouldn’t take long for them to do their tests, but it turns out he had been eating trash for a while so they had to do surgery, and,” He stops. “I should have done something to let you know, but.”

I wasn’t really sure what to say. It wasn’t even minutes ago that was super pissed off and angry at him, and now I wasn’t sure how to feel. “Is Peeps okay?”

Austin nods excitedly. “He got released today, he has the cone of shame on, but at least he can’t eat garbage with it on.”

I smiled a little. “That’s good.”

Austin nods again before sliding into the chair in front of me. “I totally understand if you don’t want to, but is there any way I can talk you into going on a second date with me?”

My bottom lip went between my teeth and I chewed for a few seconds, staring at my desk. “Only we trade numbers so in case Peeps eats some garbage again you can let me know.”

Austin smiles. “Yeah, of course.” I hand him a post it note and a pen and wait for him to quickly scribble his number down. “We could go anywhere you want, or if you want to play it on the safe side, I could make dinner or we could order in, that way I can’t ditch you again.” He looks up from the pad and slides it over. “Whatever you want.”

“That sounds kind of nice, going to your place.” I tell him honestly. I was kind of over restaurants for the time being.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Austin smiles.

-=-

I arrived five minutes late to Austin’s, I didn’t want to be early, because I thought maybe he wouldn’t be ready. But when I arrived at 7:05, Austin was waiting patiently for me. He was wearing a black vneck under a red and black checked flannel type shirt that was open. I kind of felt over dressed in my own nicest black v neck and jeans with only slight rips at the knees.

Austin’s house wasn’t what I was expecting. For one reason, I wasn’t expecting it to be so clean for two guys in their mid-twenties. And I wasn’t expecting it to be so nicely decorated. The living room, which was where the front door led too, was large and spacious, in front of the opening to the house, there was a small hallway which I’m assuming led into the kitchen. Next to the front door, on the right, was a staircase, and across from it, on the far left of the house, there was a full wall of tall windows, nearly floor to ceiling, with a glass door that led out into a side yard. The living room was very warm and inviting, the walls were a nice, dark, chocolate brown. The couches and other soft seating were all beige with accents of aqua blue pillows and one blanket I saw flung across the back of an arm chair. Photo frames, earth toned lamps that were surprisingly bright, and little kitschy objects that crowed most of the tables in the space, and lined the mantle of the fireplace across from the largest couch. Everything looked so comfortable and I could honestly see myself curling up in front of that fireplace and falling asleep one day.

But first: I needed to see how this went.

Austin took my hand after a few seconds and led me into the kitchen. “You said you liked Chinese food on the phone, so.”

I was kind of taken aback by the display in front of me. The kitchen, I couldn’t really see, as it was tucked away behind a large counter and cabinet combination that only left a small window for me to see in, but I wasn’t really interested in that. The lights were dimmed to a point where if it wasn’t for the candles flooding the kitchen table in front of me, I probably wouldn’t be able to see the huge array of food. I could make out fried rice, a chicken dish, a beef dish, and a lot of vegetables.

“You really outdid yourself.” I smile and look up at him.

He shrugs a little. “I had to make it up to you somehow.”

-=-

“There’s no way you made all this.” I tease Austin as we finished up eating. We had talked throughout dinner and can I just swoon? He’s so wonderful and charming, and obviously romantic. We had so much in common from music, to love of animals, to feelings about current events. And I could tell he wasn’t just agreeing with me for the sake of being agreeable, he truly felt that way. Needless to say, he was forgiven. Mostly.

“Are you doubting my cooking skills?” He asks with a laugh.

I shrug. “I mean, that’s the only explanation, you’re not a chef, you’re in advertising.”

“So I can’t be good at cooking?”

“I guess you could be, but this beef with broccoli tastes suspiciously like Lin’s on fifth.”

Austin laughs. “You got me. I totally ordered from Lin’s.”

I smiled. “I knew it.”

“I never claimed to have made dinner.” Austin smiles his infectious smile, causing my smile to widen as well. “I did, however, make dessert.”

-=-

A chocolate cupcake with warm fudge filling and a glass of wine later, Austin and I were sitting on one of his huge, plush couches in the living room.

“So does my ability to make it look like a hand crafted a Chinese dinner when I actually didn’t get me off the hook for last time?” Austin asks with a laugh, setting his stemless wine glass down on the coffee table in front of him.

I smirked a little. “Well, almost.”

“Almost?” He asks with a smirk to match my own.

I nod. You could say that I was moving a little fast, but I really wanted to kiss Austin, if he wanted to kiss me.

“Hm, let’s see,” Austin makes a pretend thinking face. “I put delicious Chinese food fancily onto plates, I baked amazing chocolate cupcakes, I started a fire in the fireplace—”

“You flipped a switch next to your mantle, but go on,”

“I think that we had a pretty good date.” Austin bites lip.

“I do too.”

“Hm, so if we had a good date, I guess there’s only one thing left to do?”

I lightly shrug and look at him, he has such nice lips. “I think so.” I was really hoping we were on the same page and he wasn’t about to kill me or something.

Austin leans in and presses a quick kiss to my lips, feeling it out before he went further. It was nice, and I was right about his lips, they were even better now that they were on mine. After Austin had pulled away, he looked at me for a couple of seconds before I pulled his face onto mine so we could continue without kiss. It wasn’t like some super romantic, tongues everywhere kiss. It was just lips on lips, hands on cheeks and necks. It was perfect compared to other first kisses with guys I had experienced.

“Oh!” Austin pulled back and looked to the door, so that’s where I looked too. “You must be Alan!” An overly perky girl with black hair exclaims, pulling behind her the hand of a guy I had seen in pictures, but didn’t know his name.

“You weren’t supposed to be home for another hour.” Austin huffs.

“Oh! Sorry!” She laughs, the guy behind her laughing as well as they head up the stairs near the door.

“I guess I should get going.” I state to Austin as he lets his hand fall from my cheek.
Austin nods. “Unfortunately. They’ll be really annoying.”

-=-

After I had collected my jacket, Austin walked me out to my car, which thankfully wasn’t blocked by his roommates’ SUV.

“Um, I had a lot of fun.” Austin tells me as I unlock my car door with the key.

“I did too.”
“So, you want to go out again?” Austin asks hopefully.

I nod, almost as excitedly as he did on Tuesday when I asked him about his dog. “I’d really like that.”

“Awesome, I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Austin smiles. “Okay, drive safe?”

“I will.” I lean and press a small kiss, much like the first one we shared, to his lips. “Good night.”

“Night. Talk to you tomorrow.”