Waves Of Passion

Eliza rolled her eyes. “Seriously, nothing happened. He came over and gave me a ride home, that’s it.”

Christina raised an eyebrow over the other.

“Okay, he may have stayed the night but we only had hot chocolate and watched Two and a Half Men. Nothing more.”

“Well, maybe today I should let you get off early and get something sexy to wear on the way home.”

Eliza shook her head. “No. I am not working at the bar tonight and I most definitely have something to wear tonight.” She took a long sip of her water. “And now, if you can just lay off my personal life, it would be great,” she added and Christina laughed.

*****

By ten minutes to eight that evening, Eliza had changed her clothes thrice. Her first outfit, a red V-neck bandage dress was too revealing, her second one, a short strapless dress was too bare for her. But her third outfit had to do. And if anything, she did not have any more time to change into something else. She had settled on a short black dress and a pair of red open toed ankle boots to match her red jacket.

“There,” she thought as she looked at her reflection. “You can never go wrong with a little black dress.”

Her curly hair was hanging loose on her shoulders just the way she liked it. She reached for her purse just as her doorbell rang. She looked at her reflection one last time and took a long deep breath before she walked out of her room. She made her way to the front door and bit her lower lip.

It was probably the fact that she was going on her first date in two years that had her really worried. Her first real date. She took a long deep breath before she opened the door.

“Wow,” Justin said when he saw her. His eyes were running down her body but she was the one who felt like she should have been saying wow. He had on a black pinstripe slim suit and an ash gray shirt. His hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail and he was holding a box of chocolates in one hand and the other one was behind his back. It was like he was a proper butler looking at her.

“I should be the one saying wow,” she said in a soft voice.

“You are talking. But the way you look now, I mean, I thought I had a treat when I first saw you in a bikini but this…” he shook his head. “You look beautiful. You are beautiful.”

“Thanks.” She shrugged. “You clean up pretty good too.”

He smiled.

“I hope you like chocolates,” he started as he handed her the box. “They’re Belgian.”

“I love chocolate,” she said as she took the box from him. “Show me a girl who doesn’t and I will show you an anti-Semitic Aryan race.”

Justin smiled and shrugged.

“Shall we go?” he asked and she nodded.

“Yeah sure.”

The drive to the restaurant was short but all along Eliza kept on wondering what it really meant to go on a first date because she never really went on a first date with Allan. It was more of a casual meeting, or some kind of manipulated situation of events. It had all been about meeting up in high end establishments where she sat quietly sipping on her drink as Allan closed his deals. The longest conversation they had ever had was when they discussed what take out menu they would decide on for dinner.

“So are you always this quiet?” he asked and she shrugged.

“I’m sorry…it’s just…this is all new for me.”

“Dating?” he asked and she nodded.

“Before meeting my ex I had never really dated…strict parents and everything and with Allan…the jerk you saved me from,” she said quickly.

“Ah, that guy. Who could forget him?” he asked and she smiled.

“Yeah him. I don’t think I ever had a first date with him. It was just business meetings.”

“What? He brought you along to his business meetings?” he asked and she nodded.

“I think to him…all I ever really was, was simply arm candy. I can’t remember the last time I just had a conversation with him. To be honest, I don’t even know how he got me to date him.”

“Whoa, you really have some strong feelings about your ex, don’t you?” he asked and she shrugged.

“I don’t like talking about him…or thinking about him. It’s a little too…” her voice trailed off when she realized that she didn’t really have the right words to end the story. If anything, she did not want to get the date started talking about her past.

“It’s alright,” he said as he went on driving. “We don’t have to talk about him. Tonight is about getting to know Eliza Warren.”

*****

Dinner was amazing to say the least. As it turned out, at the restaurant she had the best rolled flank steak she had ever had. And the wine, it was simply out of this world. A beautifully matured bottle of red that paired perfectly with the steak and grilled vegetables. She did not even realize how much time they had spent at the restaurant until they began walking out of the restaurant. She’d had three glasses of wine and maybe that was perhaps why she felt the time flew but it might also have been because of the way she was having a good time. This was the first time she had actually got to talking about what she really loved doing. Talked about the real Eliza Warren and not the doll house replica that Allan had forced her to be for the last two years. It was a little after midnight when he finally took her home. He slipped an arm around her waist when she opened the door and pulled her close to him. He held her chin and kissed her softly before he pulled away.

“Aren’t you going to come in today?” she asked when he didn’t walk into the apartment.

He took a long deep breath and sighed loudly.

“What?” she asked.

“It’s just that if I come in, I am going to do more than just kiss you,” he said and she smiled. “That is a promise by the way.”

“I want you to do more than just kiss me,” she said.

“And this time you feel differently about being with me. About letting me have you?”

She leaned against the door and shrugged.

“This is maybe the wine talking but does it really matter?” she asked and he nodded, but shrugged a few seconds later.

“It would have but you are not one of the bikini wearing girls on the beach who want me just because I can facilitate a shopping trip or get their reality television career started. So yeah, it matters. I don’t want you to look at me in the morning and hate yourself.”