"This prom is not my cup of tea. I would rather be on my roof watching stars."
When you are the head of your school's cheer-leading team, going to senior prom is an unspoken compulsion. But Valerina Mathews has no interest at all.
Being the school'...
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"You know, I always thought of your name to be unique. There are not many girls with the name Valerina." He shrugged.
"My brothers always teased me saying that dad wanted me to be a Ballerina and my youngest elder brother, Jonah, who was only one when I was born, could only pronounce the sound 'V'. So they named me Valerina." I chuckled.
"As stupid as that may sound, it does make sense." He chuckled.
"So, what are your plans for college?" I asked him.
We were sitting at Alberto's, a famous Italian restaurant in New York. Christian had asked me what type of food I liked and I had told Italian. But I had not expected him to bring me to Alberto's.
I had never been here. This restaurant was way too costly for us to eat. So I was kind of excited to taste the food.
"Actually, I am not going to college." He shrugged.
"Why is that? Are you taking a break to travel the world or something?" I asked, immediately thinking about Jonah.
"No. I am not planning on going to college. Like ever." He said. This caught me off guard.
"Why?" I asked, trying to sound as non-judgmental as possible.
"Well, my mom is really sick. And I don't want to spend any part of my life away from her. So, I kind of didn't apply to any colleges." He stated.
"Does your mom know about that?" I asked, already having the idea of what the answer was going to be.
"No." He looked down and then back up. It was a rough topic for him and I decided to drop it. I did not need to know all of his family history on our first date.
"Where are you going for college?" He asked.
"University of Michigan to study business." I immediately smiled at the thought of Michigan. I have always wanted to go there ever since I got to know that my parents went there.
"You seem very excited about studying." He chuckled.
"I am, actually. I have always wanted to study business at Michigan. Both of my parents went there and I have always wanted to do the same." I smiled.
"That's amazing. I'll make sure to call regularly, if we are still friends till then and you haven't gotten tired of me." He shrugged.
Before I could tell him that I was not going to get tired of him, we were interrupted by the waiter who had brought our food.
I had ordered an Acqua Pazza. I had no idea what that was but the name had caught my eye. Christian had decided to order the same as me.
It was a very good looking dish and I was excited to try it.
We both smiled at each other and dug into the food.
As soon as the food touched my tongue, I hated it.
