"Why not?" I whined feeling slightly cranky from just waking up.
"Because I got a surprise for you. Why don't you go upstairs and put on something really nice and then we can go?" he told me.
"Where are we going?" I asked him feeling totally lost here.
"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise now would it? So, hurry up and get ready because we have a reservation."
"OK fine! I'm going!" I told him as I ran back up the stairs. What should I wear? I wondered as I headed over to my closet. It had to be someplace somewhat fancy if Nick had made a reservation. With that in mind I selected a long blue flowered skirt with a blue tank top and a matching cardigan from my closet.
Within a few minutes I was done getting dressed. I quickly ran a brush through my hair and threw some makeup on then headed downstairs. As I was walking down I could see Nick standing at the foot of the stairs waiting for me. I noticed the way he was looking at me as if he was totally entranced with me which I really couldn't figure out why. "Wow!" he said in amazement. "You look great!"
"Thanks," I told him trying my hardest not to blush. "Let's get going."
"Good idea," he agreed as he took my hand and led me outside to his car. He opened the door for me and helped me in like an absolute gentleman. Then he got in and we started to drive off.
"So, is Amy feeling better?" I asked him.
"Yea, she's starting to act like her old self. By tomorrow she'll be perfectly normal," Nick promised me.
I was silent for a little bit but then I asked, " So, are we almost at wherever we are going?"
"Almost," he said mysteriously with a mischievous smile.
A few minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot of a fancy restaurant on the beach. "We're here," Nick announced as he got out of the car and walked around to my side to let me out.
So this was it, I thought with a smile as Nick helped me out. A romantic dinner at an expensive restaurant and possibly a walk on the beach later. It sounded absolutely perfect to me.
When we got inside the restaurant the waiter placed us at a table that overlooked the beach creating an incredibly beautiful view. Between the soft music playing in the background, the view, and the dimness of the restaurant lighted only by a single candle on each table it made the whole atmosphere seem totally romantic.
When we got the menu Nick advised me to order anything I wanted but he wouldn't let me take one peek at the prices.
"Why not?" I asked curiously.
"Because the girl is never supposed to know how much the guy is spending on her. It's bad manners," he answered simply.
As Nick read each item off the menu I could practically feel my mouth watering. So many decisions it was hard to pick! Finally both me and Nick ordered the prime rib and when the food arrived I almost laughed. I practically had a whole cow sitting in front of me. "Wait! I thought I only ordered a rib not the whole cow," I said joking around.
"Yea, I know what you're saying. This thing looks bigger than me," Nick agreed.
The moment I bit into it I knew that this meal must be really expensive because I've never tasted something so delicious in my life.
"Hey! Don't start eating yet," Nick told me. "I wanted to make a toast."
"OK, pretend I didn't take that one bite," I said with a laugh.
Nick just smiled and poured some champagne into our glasses from the bottle that the waiter had brought us. When he finished he lifted his glass and said, " I want to make a toast to us. There are about a million things I want to say to you right now but I'm saving all of it for later and the second part of my surprise."
"You mean there's more?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, but don't worry about all of that right now," he advised as he clinked his glass against mine. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Will I like it?" I asked him.
"I hope so. I certainly hope so," he answered mysteriously.
After that we started to eat and we changed the subject. Everything felt absolutely perfect. The food was out of this world, the whole atmosphere was romantic and I was there with the perfect guy. What more could I want?
I only ate about half of the prime rib because it was just way to filling. I planned on skipping dessert but then the waiter told us that the special for that night was a double layer chocolate mousse cake with chocolate frosting and topped with dark chocolate chips, powdered sugar, and chocolate syrup. Of course me being the total chocolate maniac that I am had to have it and it tasted even better than the prime rib.
As I finished up my cake I began to wonder about the second half of the surprise. What could it be? I couldn't wait for Nick to get the bill and pay so I could find out.
When the bill finally did arrive, Nick took one look at it and kind of winced. You could tell that he didn't plan on dinner being so expensive and he was trying to hide it from me. It was so cute and for a moment I considered asking him if he wanted me to pay for my part of the meal but I knew that he wouldn't hear of it. I never really got why guys felt that they had to impress girls with money but I decided just to leave that whole matter alone.
After paying we left and headed over to the beach for a walk just as I'd expected. At first we walked in silence both to full from our meals to really hold up a conversation. It didn't matter to me. I felt completely comfortable just being with him, enjoying the feeling of his arm around my shoulders and the wet sand underneath my feet after I'd kicked off my sandals.
"So, where's my surprise?" I asked him after a while.
"Oh, yea. I almost forgot about that," he said teasing me. "Actually it's not exactly a surprise. It's more of something that I think I need to get off my chest."
"Well, I've dated a lot of girls in the past," he started out sounding a little nervous. "And they were mostly all the same. I was beginning to think that maybe every single girl in the world was like that until something changed my mind, and do you know what that thing was? That thing was you Lyssa."
"Me?" I squeaked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that you're different from all the other girls. In fact you're the total opposite of them and I like that. What I'm trying to say to you is that I've never felt this strongly about any other girl before. This time I don't even have to think about whether or not I love you like I did with any of my past girlfriends because I already know the answer," he confessed as he looked deeply into my eyes. "My answer is that I love you Lyssa."
When he said those words I felt an involuntary chill run through my body only it wasn't a bad one at all, more like a very good one. looking into his eyes as he said this I could tell he was dead serious. No one else in my entire life had told me that they loved me before and meant it the way he did.
"I love you too," I managed to say. This may sound totally corny and dumb but I could practically feel my eyes welling up with tears of joy. It was just that after years and years of dreaming about falling in love finally it was actually happening and it was almost to good to be true.
"You don't know how happy I am that you feel the same way. I felt like such a jerk this afternoon and I wanted to make it up to you so bad and what better way to do it then to take you out for a romantic night and tell you that I loved you?" Nick confessed.
I felt a little stunned that a guy would do all that just to show me he cared. Was I really THAT special to him? "It's OK Nick," I finally managed to say. "What happened this afternoon was pretty dumb but it's done with and now you know how I feel." It must have sounded totally retarded because it didn't make much sense to me but I got the feeling that Nick understood what I was trying to say anyway.
"Like I said I'm really sorry about all that," he apologized yet again.
"God Nick, like I said it's OK. You don't have to apologize every two minutes. Just do me a favor, shut up snd kiss me already," I said with a smile. I'd been waiting for years to use that line.
I didn't have to tell him twice. As soon as those words left my mouth he stepped closer to me, lifted my chin up slightly and softly pressed his lips against mine. This kiss was different from any other though. This time I could tell that he really did love me. I could practically feel the tenderness in it. It was hard for me to believe that only two weeks ago I was a completely different person. Now I feel much more confident and a lot better about myself. Little did I know that Nick and I were about to cross the first major hurdle in our relationship that almost wound up being our last...