“You’re the one who likes spicy food.”
“This is crazy, we need wine,” he stated.
“Wine? It’s illegal!” I whispered.
He shrugged, “I always order wine here, no biggie.” He snapped his fingers and a waitress walked to us. “Bring us a bottle of wine,” He simply ordered. She went and brought a bottle from the back shelf. A waiter came in with two wine glasses. He placed them on the table, and one of them opened the bottle for us. The waitress took the bottle and poured some on each glass, and she took the bottle with her.
I kept staring at Ned, and how normal he acted about the wine. He took the glass, and sipped from it. My jaws dropped, “I can’t believe you,” I whispered.
He shrugged, “It’s just wine.”
“Oh my god, I never saw a nerd breaking any rule before,” I took my glass and sipped from it, and swallowed the wine.
“This is my happy place. I feel I can do anything here,” he explained, “My life at home is not stable, but when I come here alone, I forget everything about my life, and just focus on food and wine.”
“Well, if this is your happy place, then cheers to that,” I clinked my glass to his and smiled.
We both sipped our wine in silence for a second.
The waitress finally brought our food, and placed them in front of each of us. “Two spicy food for the young couple,” she said, and left us alone.
I took a spoon and took some soup, and sipped it. The gravy was a bit thick, but tasty. I didn’t feel any spice in the gravy, until I swallowed the gravy, and my tongue was on fire. Ned also sipped his, and we both opened our mouths to let air in, and fanned our mouths with our hands.
“Too spicy!” I yelled at Ned.
“Surrender to the wine!” Ned told me, “Lose the dare!”
“No!” I refused, and waited for my tongue to feel mild.
“Give up now, and drink the wine,” He started, “Give in to the temptation.”
“Shut up!” I said, and took the glass of wine and gulped it all.
He laughed, “Wooh, I won!”
The spice finally broke down, and I felt better. I started laughing.
We continued laughing, until Ned stopped and looked into my eyes.
I stopped laughing, “Everything okay?”
“I’m having fun,” he said.
“Me too.”
****************************************
After the date was over, Ned took me home. When I got in the house, Dad called from the living room, “How was your date?” He asked, as he peeped his head out of the door.
“It was great,” I replied, “really good, actually.”
“Good,” he said. “Well, you better change, I’ll order lunch later.”
“Actually, I already ate lunch,” I said and went upstairs to my bedroom. I took off my clothes, and my phone. I had to tell the girls about my date with Ned.
Me: Ned and I went on a date today
Jane: aww, that’s sweet
Max: OOOW
Max: Where did you guys go?
Me: To a Thai restaurant
Max: Did you kiss again?
Me: Not really
Me: But he was staring at me, like he was trying to say something
Max: Oh, shit
Max: Do you think he loves you?
Me: I don’t know
Jane: That makes sense
Jane: Maybe he’s scared to tell you
Max: If he did confess, are you going to be okay with him?
Me: I don’t know, Max
Me: I don’t know
Chapter Thirteen
On Saturday morning, Ned texted me to ask if I’d go to his house to work on our project again. After I ate my breakfast with my family, I told Dad that I was going out to work on a project with Ned. Dad was using his laptop in the living room’s coffee table. Probably working on his designs as overtime to finish up some pending projects. Mom sat on the sofa in front of the TV, and my siblings were upstairs playing with their devices.
Dad didn’t turn to look at me, instead focused on his laptop screen, “Be back before dinner, I’m cooking pasta tonight,” he said as he drew on the drawing tablet.
“Okay, umm,” I said, “I need to talk to you later when I get back.”
He finally looked at me, “About what, dear?” he asked.
“I’ll tell you later. I have to go now,” I said and went for the door.
“Take care,” he said, and turned to the screen again.
I got outside, and closed the door behind me. I saw Ned’s car parked outside, and held papers to my chest. I opened the door, and got inside. “Hey,” I greeted Ned.
“Hey,” he said, “I called Mrs. Jensen yesterday, and she wasn’t happy about our project.” He drove the car, and kept talking, “I told her that we needed more time to work on the project, since you had some stuff going on with your mom, and that delayed our project. She said we had a few days, and it’s our last chance to hand in the project. I hope you don’t mind me telling her about your situation.”
My heart skipped, “No, it’s fine,” I said with a low voice.
He glimpsed at me with hesitation, “Are, are you sure you’re alright?” He wondered, “You don’t sound okay.”
I shook my head, and looked down, “It’s hard to talk about it, or someone mentioning it. That’s all,” I replied.
“Shit, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have opened this subject,” He apologized, and licked his lower lip, like he was looking for a solution.
“It doesn’t matter!” I snapped at him, which made him shut up.
He looked upset, and kept his eyes on the road. He shook his head, and murmured something. We didn’t talked until we reached
