“It’s film related,” he said. “I really don’t have any choice.”
“Was that Christina?” I said, hating how flinty my voice sounded.
He regarded me quizzically, but didn’t answer as he rose and headed to the doors. When he reached them, he turned to face me. “Thanks for humoring me, Lacey. Please finish your dinner, though, and order something for dessert. Carl will take you home whenever you like.” He hesitated for an instant. “Maybe we can do this again? I’d like that.”
Before I could respond, he was gone, leaving me feeling unbalanced and shaken, alone in the flickering glow of the tiki torches, with nothing but the remains of my pasta for company. What just happened? I sat staring mutely at the dark interior of the dining room, my appetite gone. After several minutes the server approached from the shadows and asked if I wanted anything else. I shook my head to his offer of dessert and rose unsteadily. The dreamlike quality of the evening had been shattered, and Jared’s abrupt departure and cryptic parting tone left me feeling strangely empty inside.
Chapter 15
Everyone was asleep by the time I made it back after a helicopter ride that felt five times longer than the earlier one. I slipped off my boots in the hall and tiptoed between the beds to mine, careful not to disturb my sleeping roommates. I’d have to face the questions sometime, but I was afraid if I did it now, I’d burst into tears. Cyrus was curled up on my bed, and I nudged him aside and crawled beneath the covers, my thoughts racing. When I finally drifted off to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I’d replayed the dinner a dozen times, with none of it making any sense.
Daylight arrived in the blink of an eye, and my alarm sounded moments after I’d fallen asleep. Kate was sitting on the edge of Sarah’s bed, and my roommates were looking at me expectantly.
“Well?” Kate asked.
I stood and brushed hair out of my eyes. “It was a really nice dinner.”
Sarah shook her head. “That’s it? The hottest dude on the planet swoops you away in a helicopter, and the best you’ve got is it was really nice?”
Serena sat up in her bed. “You have to tell us everything.”
Kate nodded. “Start with the helicopter. What was that like?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, it was loud inside and a little scary at first. We flew to a restaurant on the coast. I don’t even know what it was called.” I described the restaurant and the piano and the Italian menu. When I finished, Sarah looked like she was in shock.
“That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard,” she whispered. “Like something out of a movie.”
“It was kind of crazy,” I admitted.
“Starting with sending a helicopter for you,” Serena said. “That’s like… I don’t even know. For me the height of romance was once when the guy paid for my Uber.”
I blushed at the memory. “He did admit it was a little over the top.”
“A little,” Sarah echoed.
“So then what?” Kate asked.
I shrugged. “We ordered dinner and talked,” I said, like it was no big deal. The sense of unreality of the prior night returned. It wasn’t that I was trying to be cagey – I honestly didn’t know how I felt about it all. After an awkward start, we had found our rhythm – I thought – and then…what? Was it really a call about work? Wasn’t the “I have to go, it’s an emergency” call what people used to try to get away from boring dates? Had I been boring? Am I boring?
“Talked about what?”
“Just…you know. Where I grew up. My favorite color, what books I like. That kind of thing.”
“Did he put the moves on you first?” Sarah asked. “Or did you jump him?”
“It wasn’t like that,” I protested.
“So then how was it?” Serena pressed.
I thought about the question. “It was…dreamy. I mean, torches everywhere, and Jared three feet away, music, pasta… After I got rid of the lobster, I mean.
Sarah looked to Kate. “She sent the lobster back. For some noodles.”
“Skip ahead,” Kate said, returning to me. “You ate. And then what? Did he do a striptease for you? Sing you a lullaby? What happened?”
I looked down. “He…he got a call and had to go. Some emergency with the movie.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. “So you didn’t even get to…dessert?”
“Didn’t even try?” Sarah demanded. “I would have been across the table and on top of him before the salad arrived.”
“I keep trying to tell you, it wasn’t like that. He’s not like that.” I hesitated. “He’s…he’s kind of old-fashioned. More of a gentleman, you know?”
“Guys don’t fly you off to exotic restaurants to hear about what you want to be when you grow up,” Kate said. “There has to have been more to it than that.”
“Well, he apologized for leaving abruptly, and he did ask if we could do it again.”
Sarah fist-pumped the air. “Bingo. Game on! Bring it, baby! See, I bet he’s just playing hard to get. Upping the excitement level a bit. Anti…cipation, you know what I mean?”
I didn’t. I didn’t feel excited; I felt confused.
Kate laughed, and Serena sat forward. “Did he say when?”
“Um, not really. Just that we should.”
Sarah grinned ear to ear. “Lacey’s dating a rock star! And to think we knew her way back when.”
I sighed. “We’re not dating, Sarah. We had dinner, and it got cut short. That’s it. Don’t make this more than it is.”
Kate stared at me in disbelief. “Lacey, he sent his helicopter to take you to a fancy dinner on the coast. If it gets more date-y than that, I don’t know how. You’re dating.”
“We’re…we’re just getting to know each other. That’s all it felt like. Like he was curious about me, or trying to figure me
