Make Your Move

Adjusting the belt on her dress, Anna stood back from the mirror, inspecting over herself like an officer would a crime scene, like a tattoo artist would while trying to decide positioning of a tattoo, scrutinising every last detail. Smoothing out the wrinkles on her dress, she stepped into the cute dark red velvet flats that she had bought the day before, making sure that she was wearing band-aids on the back of her heels to prevent blistering. Anna bit down hesitantly on her lip for a few seconds before realising that he was wearing lipstick and released her lip. To say that she was nervous was an understatement; the last time that he had gone out on a date had been several months ago- that long that she’d already lost count. Matt was coming to pick her up to take her out to a restaurant in town which just happened to be their mutual favourite- The Ox. Despite the title, they served a whole range of foods from all over, and it was of the finest quality, one of the best in town.

Grabbing the small bottle of her favourite perfume, she spritzed some onto herself, making sure that she at least smelt nice for Matt. Anna looked around to see if she hadn't forgotten anything and, she was looking pleased with herself when the doorbell echoed throughout her house. It was too late to grab the jacket to cover some of the tattoos that she had on show, so instead she grabbed her bag and quickly ran out of her room in a flurry.

"Anna? You didn't change your mind did you?" Matt's uneasy voice travelled underneath the closed wooden door. Giggling to herself, Anna pulled open the door to be greeted with an identical look of appreciation. Unashamedly, Matt's eyes trailed over Anna's body, starting from her legs upward. A blush seeped onto her cheeks as she smiled softly; it was endearing, to have someone like Matt check her out. It wasn’t like anything that she had experienced before, and to say she was nervous was an understatement. Matt wasn’t like the guys who’d always check her out in the store, he was different, and she could sense that.

"Of course I didn't, Matt. I’ve just got to grab one quick thing, and I’ll be ready. Feel free to come in and wait, if you’d like. I shouldn’t be long,” Anna told him, standing to the side so he could walk in. Closing the door behind Matt, Anna walked over to her room. She grabbed the pack of mints that were sitting on the top of her dresser and put them into her bag; who knows when they’re needed, and judging from the look that Matt gave her, she knew that they’d definitely come in handy.

She noticed Matt near her music collection; a mumbled agreement was made as he stared at the CDs in awe. “I have nearly all of these.” He murmured, a hand reaching out to pull out one of the special edition discs which Greg had bought her for her 18th birthday. Matt nodded appreciatively and put it back into the holder.

“You sound surprised,” She laughed, slinging the straps of her bag over her shoulder. Anna took his outstretched hand hesitantly, the warmth of his skin had transferred over to hers almost instantaneously. Matt shook his head, a bemused smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“Not at all, relieved would be the appropriate word here. That’s all I have in my car and I’d hate to turn on the radio and listen to some of the crap that’s on nowadays.” Matt replied, smirking this time as they walked out of her apartment. Anna closed and locked her door behind her, double-checking that she had everything; she let Matt lead her outside. He was sweet, genuinely. It was a welcomed change from some of the douche bags that she’s dated in the past. She recalled Grace’s parting words to her from the day before, ’if you don’t end up at his house by the end of the night, you ordered too much garlic’ and made a mental note not to order any Italian, least not garlic bread or onion rings.

“Don’t be silly –”

Matt cut her off with a chuckle, “Just get in the car, gorgeous.” He murmured, holding open the door for her.

“You didn’t have to –”

“But I wanted too, y’know, be all gentlemanly for a change.”

Anna couldn’t help but to giggle at that and sighed, making sure that she got in nicely like her sister had taught her and smiled up at Matt. He was going above and beyond what she had expected, and for once, she wasn’t worried about the finer details. To her, she was able to relax and since it was in Matt’s company, it made it a whole lot better.

The trip to the restaurant was filled with amicable chatter, about music, common likes and dislikes and about their friends. It wasn’t forced – which was a surprise to the pair of them – and, it was if they had been friends for ages. It was comfortable, and the pair didn’t need to feel like they had to fill in the pauses between topics with useless speech.

Matt’s car slowly came to a stop in the restaurant’s parking lot, and before Anna could get her bag from the floor of the car, Matt had opened the passenger’s door, a cheesy grin plastered over his face, causing his eyes to crinkle at the corners. “Matt, you’re incredibly sweet, which is surprising considering you don’t look it,” Anna joked as she hopped out, a blush seeping onto her pale cheeks as the flicker of Matt’s eyes didn’t go unnoticed. Slipping her arm through Matt’s, they walked in. They were led to a table for two; menus placed in front of the couple and were told that a server will come out in a few moments.

For once, both Matt and Anna were glad that no one took notice of either of them. Matt didn’t have to deal with women fawning over him, and Anna didn’t have any servers or waiters hitting on her. The surprise was clear, but they welcomed it with open arms. It was like they were alone.



Setting the now crumpled napkin on her plate, Anna glanced up at Matt, meeting his gaze. “What?” She smiled, taking a sip from her glass of wine. For some reason, her mind wasn’t flooded with a million negative thoughts as to why he’d be looking at her. Instead, she was thinking that she should slip a piece of gum into her mouth sometime.

“I’m happy that you said yes,” Matt replied, resting his hand over hers, dimples dotting his cheeks as he smiled wider.

Anna smirked, squeezing his hand in agreement. “I’m happy that you asked.”