“Oh.” I licked my lips nervously, having forgotten about the lipstick on them.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I turned around and faced him. His eyes immediately traveled slowly down the length of my body, coating me with his gaze. My heart was beating rapidly, and I got the chills. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even have accepted the date if I knew Jake was going to be home to see me off.

He was never home on Fridays. Why today?

“Nina…you look—”

I interrupted him. “Interesting?”

He kept staring at my dress. “That’s one way of putting it,” he said as his eyes returned upward to meet mine.

Tarah walked in at that moment and seemed just as shocked as I was to see him. “Jake!”

“Tarah!” He mocked her tone, without taking his eyes off me. I would say he was undressing me with them, but truthfully, the dress left little to the imagination.

He finally moved from the doorway and sat on my bed, lightly bouncing up and down. “I didn’t know we were going out tonight, Nina.”

Tarah looked at me seeking permission with her eyes. “We…are not going anywhere. She is going on a date.”

He turned to me and smiled, but it didn’t look genuine. It was more taunting. “I see.” He paused and then said, “I suppose he’s taking you to the Vegas Strip in that outfit?”

“I think she looks awesome, actually,” Tarah said.

I was beyond speechless and just shook my head.

Jake continued to stare at me with a look so intense, you’d think his beautiful green eyes could have burned a hole through my dress. “Have fun,” he said like he didn’t mean it. “And don’t forget a jacket. You’re bound to catch pneumonia dressed like that.” Then, he turned around, walked down the hall to his room and slammed the door closed.

I’d rather be going out with you…you ass.

The time was now 6:55.

“It’s almost seven. Your date will be here any minute,” Tarah said.

“Do me a favor and let him in when he comes and then get me? I just wanna sit here for a bit and grab my bearings.”

“No problem, sweetie. I understand.” She left the room, closing my door behind her.

His cologne still lingered in my room, and I breathed it in. His surprise appearance had completely jarred me. I sat back on my bed, careful not to mess my hair too much and tried to inhale in and exhale out to relax. It wasn’t working. I was still reeling from Jake’s stare, from his words and from the fact that my body was craving him, minutes before I was supposed to be going out with another guy. If I were lucky, he would stay in his room until I left.

About ten minutes later, still lying on my bed in the same spot, I heard a knock on the front door in the distance. I sat up suddenly and heard Tarah open it and greet Alistair. “She’s just in her room finishing up. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable and I’ll let her know you’re here.”

Tarah’s footsteps got closer and closer until she entered my room shutting the door behind her.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Honestly? No.”

“Is it Jake?”

I took a deep breath and nodded silently.

“Well, come on, you don’t want to keep your adorable date waiting. He’s a cutie, and you look hot, babe. We’ll chat about as**ole later.”

I got up and followed Tarah into the living room. Alistair was standing with his hands in his pockets, wearing khaki pants and a white linen shirt rolled up at the sleeves. His light brown hair was perfectly parted to the side and gelled. His smile was magnetic.

“Hey, Alistair.”

“Hey, Nina. Wow. You look…awesome,” he said as he approached me and kissed my cheek.

Tarah nudged me and said, “Why, thank you, Alistair.”

“Thanks. It’s all her doing,” I said pointing to Tarah.

His head moved side to side slowly as he took in my appearance. “Well, you were beautiful before, but…man, I’m just…speechless.”

Laughing, I said, “That was my reaction too.”

The front door opened and Ryan walked in. Tarah immediately ran over to give him a hug. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey,” he said kissing her forehead before looking over at Alistair and me. “Troll…damn, you look nice.”

Alistair turned to me. “Troll?”

“It’s a long story.”

Ryan walked over to Alistair holding out his hand. “I’m Ryan. Nina and I grew up together.”

They shook hands, and there was an awkward silence among the four of us for a few seconds.

“Where are you guys headed?” Ryan asked.

I looked at Alistair for guidance, and he said, “That new Italian place near the university. It’s called Porcello’s. It’s supposed to be really good.” He turned to me. “If that’s okay? I didn’t even think to ask where you might like to go.”

“She’s always wanted to go to Top of the Rock,” a raspy voice said from behind us.

Shit.

I turned around to see Jake standing there. He stared me down hard and continued, “Right, Nina? You love a good view from the top of a skyscraper. I hear the scenery is amazing, and the food is great.”

“That’s the one on top of the GE building in the city?” Alistair asked.

“We can save that for another time. I was really looking forward to that Italian place,” I said glaring at Jake who had an intimidating look on his face and seemed to be sizing up Alistair.

Jake extended his tattooed arm toward Alistair. “We haven’t met. I’m Jake.” He was smiling, but it was angry and disingenuous.

They shook hands and I noted the stark contrast between Jake’s defined marked arm and Alistair’s, which was bare with light blonde hairs.

“I’m Alistair.”

“Ass Hair?” Jake’s expression was calculating.

Kill me now.

Looking none the bit amused, Alistair said, “No…Ali-stair.”

“Ah…sorry, my bad,” Jake said as he looked over at me.

Fuming was not harsh enough of a word to describe how I was feeling toward him.

I was still glaring at Jake when I said, “Alistair, I think we should get going.”

“After you,” he said, gesturing for me to walk in front of him. Ignoring Jake, he then looked over at Tarah and Ryan. “It was nice meeting you guys.”

“Likewise. You kids have fun!” Tarah said.

Jake’s eyes were piercing mine and the rims of his ears were red. When Alistair and I got to the doorway, I turned around one last time to find Jake’s gaze still fixed on me. He wasn’t saying anything, but in that moment, the look on his face was different. This time, there was no sarcasm, no anger. He just looked…hurt…like he didn’t want me to leave. Then, he silently mouthed, “Bye,” before turning away.

He had been a total bastard, but God help me, I would have dropped everything for him tonight if he had just asked me to.

The restaurant was several blocks away. On the walk, Alistair and I got to know each other, talking about school and our favorite types of music and hobbies. I discovered that we both really liked Radiohead, The Killers and Coldplay. He grew up in Connecticut, not far from the city and seemed to have had a privileged life, which was a direct contrast to my modest upbringing in the sticks of upstate New York.

Midway through our walk, he grabbed my hand. While I didn’t mind, I couldn’t help but notice that my body had little to no reaction upon touching his skin. I thought back to when Jake stood in the stairwell during our subway trip and reached out his arm for me to grab. I remembered how amazing it felt when I held his hand for the first time and when our fingers intertwined. There was no comparison and it was irking me right now.

Stop thinking about Jake.

We had a reservation, so they seated us as soon as we arrived at Porcello’s. The restaurant was beautiful with dim lighting, candlelit tables and pictures on the walls of famous patrons. That song Mambo Italiano played in the background.

Maddie, our waitress, poured two glasses of water and read the specials at warp speed before we each ordered a class of cabernet sauvignon.

“They’re supposed to have the best Penne a la Vodka,” Alistair said.

Vodka. That’s all I took from that.

“Mmm. I was thinking of the Shrimp Scampi. I wonder if I can get that without the Scampi?”

Alistair put down his water and covered his face in laughter. “Nina…you don’t get out to eat much do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“There is no such thing as Scampi. Shrimp Scampi is shrimp with pasta in like a garlic and olive oil sauce. So, Scampi is just the name of the dish. It’s like—”

“Bananas Foster?”

There he was again.

“Yeah. Exactly.” He paused looking at me like I was three. “You’re adorable, Nina.”

I felt like an idiot. “Well, then…I’ll get the Shrimp Scampi. Sounds delicious.”

Alistair flashed his signature thousand-watt smile. “How about we get an appetizer? What sounds good to you?”

“How about the Jerk Chicken skewers?”

“You got it.” Alistair closed his menu then said, “Speaking of jerks, your roommate is a bit of a dick.”

My stomach sank, and I wracked my brain for a response. “Jake? He’s not that bad. He’s a bit of a ball-buster, that’s all,” I said immediately downing my water.

“He seems like a loser.”

Excuse me?

Hearing him call Jake a loser really pissed me off. There were many words I could use to describe my roommate: sarcastic, intimidating, wiseass, even dick fit the bill sometimes. But “loser” certainly wasn’t one of them.

“Why do you say that?”

“I mean, look at him. His f**king eyebrow is pierced? He just seems like a loser.”

Okay, now I was really getting angry.

“So, you are judging him because he has piercings and tattoos?”

“Yeah…among other things. I’m sure his mother is real proud.”

“A lot of people don’t view things like that as negative. Many find them quite interesting, even attractive, particularly women.”

Particularly me.

“Well, I think he just looks dumb.”

“He’s actually an engineer, and he is really smart.” I looked down at the napkin on my lap and sighed before saying, “Let’s drop the subject.”

I decided it was best to just end that conversation before I said something I would regret. I was expecting the fire alarm any minute because I was sure there was enough smoke coming out of my ears to set it off.

Alistair nodded. I think he could tell he had upset me. “Sounds good.”

Maddie came back over to take our order. On the outside, I put on a cheerful front, but on the inside, I was disappointed at how close-minded and judgmental Alistair really was. There was no doubt that Jake was a total jerk to him. If he had just called him a dick and ended it, I might have been fine. But to attack someone based on looks, was just ignorant and unacceptable to me.

Our dinner conversation fell flat, as we sat there eating our meals amidst large pockets of silence. I was starting to think the highlight of the night was learning the true meaning of Shrimp Scampi.

Needing a breather, I excused myself to go the ladies room and lingered in the stall much longer than normal. My mind drifted again to thoughts of Jake and the disappointed look on his face when I left with Alistair.

When I exited the stall, I looked at myself in the mirror. I closed my eyes and thought about the way Jake stared me up and down when he first laid eyes on me dressed liked this. The look in his eyes gave me chills and I wanted so badly to just walk across the room and kiss him. But what else is new there? Then, he asked where “we” were going. If I hadn’t gone on this date, would I have spent the evening with him? The truth was, I would have wanted to spend any amount of time with Jake, even if it were just for an hour before he had to catch his train. I would have loved to have just sat with him and talked or even studied. I looked forward to time spent with him more than anything because I never felt more alive. I wanted to be with him all of the time.

I just wanted…him.

I wanted him.

I couldn’t deny my feelings or the fact that I was sure he was going to break my heart, even if he never so much as touched me. I started to get really emotional all of a sudden, so I concluded that it was the wine and tried to shake myself from thoughts of him for the moment.

Alistair was going to think I was doing drugs in here if I didn’t hurry up, so I grabbed my bearings and reentered the dining room.

“Hey, I was about to send search and rescue in for you,” he said smiling.

“Sorry about that.”

Alistair placed a menu in front of me. “How about dessert?”

Why not? It’s the one thing that sounded good all night.

Alistair pointed to the dessert list. “Didn’t you say something earlier about Bananas Foster? They have that, if you like it.”

Great.

“Actually, I think I’ll have the chocolate cake,” I said, which of course reminded me of Mrs. Ballsworthy’s cake…which then reminded me of…yeah, this was a hopeless situation.

We placed our dessert order and Alistair excused himself to use the bathroom.

I took my phone out to check facebook, because this date was just too exciting for words, and my heart dropped. I had missed a text from Jake that came in about an hour ago.