SUMMER LOVERS
Chapter Seven
The next day, Rose
woke up with a happy mood, and even ended up making too any pancakes for her
and her Aunt Becky. After that, she went to the library to returned and
borrowed books, and then headed to the Bennett's beach house. Crystal and her
family just finished their breakfast when Rose reached the house. She and her
friend went in the beach house's front porch, where she told Crystal about what
happened yesterday.
"What? You
gotta be serious?" Those were the first words that Crystal said after
hearing the story about yesterday.
"Yes, I'm not
kidding. I didn't believe it either, but I'm gonna go out with him
tonight!" Rose squealed with excitement. "By the way, what should I
wear tonight?"
"That's not a
problem, just wear casual clothes," answered Crystal plainly.
"I want to
look great. I want to make a good impression on him."
"Okay, first,
where will he take you tonight?"
"He told me
that we're gonna eat first and then go to the club, and also told me to meet
him in front of the Tropical Bar."
"All right, I
think you should wear the short black mini skirt and the red tank top that you
showed me the other day."
"Do you thinks
he'll like it?"
"Yes. And you
don't have to worry about that. Just have good time and maybe there will be
more than you expect to happen," Crystal told Rose with teasingly.
*****
It was 6:51 P.M.
and Rose was already dressed up and ready to go. She took Crystal's advice on
what to wear. She was wearing her red tank top and black mini skirt, which was
five inches above her knees and with matching two inches high heels. She also
decided to put her red curly hair down, which also matches her outfit. She
looked at herself on the mirror and said, "You look damn hot girl." She
laughed for a moment and then went out of her room. She found her aunt reading
a beauty magazine with Janice lying on her lap. She looked at Rose with a smile
on her face.
"So what you
think?" Rose asked.
"You look
wonderful, sweetie!" Rebecca exclaimed while getting up from the couch,
but Janice stayed on the couch looking very tired from the long walk this
afternoon.
"Thanks again,
auntie. Well, I guess I better go." She kissed her aunt good-bye and
patted Janice's head and walked towards the door.
"Have fun! Be
back before eleven!" Rebecca yelled from their front porch as she watched
her niece walk.
"I will!"
Rose yelled back.
*****
When she reached
the Tropical Bar, Rose found Jack sitting at the bench waiting for her. He was
wearing khaki pants and black polo shirt, which was unbuttoned and white
T-shirt inside. When he turned around and saw Rose, he just looked at her for a
moment and then got off his feet.
"Hey there.
You look nice," Jack greeted with a smile.
"Thanks,"
said Rose blushing. Couldn't think of anything good to say after that, she
asked, "So what now?"
"Well first,
I'm taking to you to downtown. There's real good restaurant in there, and then
after that, we'll just see. So my lady, let's go," said Jack while
offering his arm to Rose, in which she took gladly. He led her to his black BMW
convertible, which he rented for the rest of his summer vacation.
The drive from the
beach area to downtown took about forty-five minutes. It was not really hot
that night as it was in the daylight. The restaurant that they went to was
called "Inter." It was not really a very formal restaurant,
but it was magnificent. It served varieties foods, which includes American,
French, Italian, Chinese, and so on. The place had different decorations such
as medieval paintings, paintings of flowers, and such. Most of the customers
were couples. Rose ordered Bourbon Baked Ham, Red Pear and Gorgonzola Salad,
and Double-Decker Strawberry Shortcakes for dessert. Jack had Barbecued Pork
Tenderloin ribs and Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Glaze for dessert. While they
were eating, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston was playing in
the background. Rose was really enjoying her time with Jack. He knew how to
make a person feel comfortable around him.
After they ate,
Jack paid the bill, and they went to the park right across the restaurant. Once
they reached the park, they sat on the bench and in front of them was a big
water fountain with lots of beautiful flowers around it. It was round and had
magnificent angel curving on the sides. There were few people in the park, but
they were the only one on that side of the park. At first, there was silence
between them and both seemed enjoying every minute of it. Then Rose looked at
Jack, who was watching the water as it floated in the fountain. Jack felt a
pair of eyes staring at him, and so he looked at Rose who was still looking at
him. For the moment she was lost at the thought of how it feels to kiss him,
but then, she was now aware that Jack was looking back at her. She gave him smile
and then turned away and looked around to hide her embarrass face and said,
"It's beautiful in here. I really like it."
"I'm glad you
like it. I've been here for many times now, and I usually go in here in the
mornings."
Rose looked at him
again directly in his ocean blue eyes, and said, "Jack, thank you. In case
I forget to tell you later, I had a really great time tonight, and to be
honest, I never had great time with anyone like this before."
"There's
nothing you should thank me for. I'm the one who should thank you for going out
with me tonight," said Jack. "And anyway, let's stop talking about
this, we're not going home yet."
"Okay."
Then she stood up and walked to the fountain and turned to looked at Jack.
"You know what, this park reminds me of the place where my granddad used
to take me after we went to church, but he died five years ago when I was
twelve."
Seeing her face
with grief from the memories that she and her granddad had shared, Jack stood
up and walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders and said, "He
sounded like a really nice man. An I bet, he doesn't want to see his little
angel with a sad look in her face."
"He was really
nice. I love him so much, and I miss him. But I think you're right, he doesn't
want to see me sad. He used to tell me about his life during his boyhood and
how he met grandma when I was sad because I really enjoy listening to his
stories," she paused for a second and then continued. "Thank you
again, Jack. I real--"
But Jack broke in
by putting one of his fingers to her lips and said, "Shush, no need to say
thank you." He put his finger down from Rose's lips and took her right
hand in his left hand, and his other hand slides to the small of her back. They
started dancing slowly. It was an electrifying moment for both of them. Rose
leaned her head to Jack's virile shoulder. There was no music, but the rhythm
of their heartbeats mixed together served as the music. Their bodies close
together and swaying with the rhythm in silence, but then Rose lifted her head
up to look at Jack, who was looking back at her. There were staring at each
other again. They felt everything around them vanished, and the only thing left
was them. For the moment neither one did anything except look at each other,
but then, Jack slowly bend his head towards Rose until his lips reached hers
and kissed her gently with building affection. They parted after long minutes
to catch the breaths and then kissed again with intense passion.