Evening Promises

three.

I was staring down at the message sent to me a few seconds ahead- causing my heart to heave as my eyes dared to read it repeatedly.

Calling you "Pretty." would appear as if I'm not noticing your true beauty. So, therefore, Avery. You look beyond comparison.

A cheeky smile on my lips creeps up, and so does Sebastian, "picking you up would have taken the fun out of everything," The sound of Sebastian's voice vibrates through my ear, and I turn around swiftly.

He looks down at my phone as soon as my body faces his-amused like he hadn't seen the text before; he examines the message and smiles brightly in between, his cheeks failing to hide the upcoming redness.

"Someone's way with words is relatively corny. Is that a boyfriend?" He inquires, joining my eye level while his arms rest narrowly on his back.

"Are you implying that you're my boyfriend?" I ask, my brows cocked, and an optimistic rush-coursing through me.

He smacks his lips, taking the lead ahead of me; I instinctively accompany him —limited steps behind, awaiting his reaction.

"This is only our third memorable date, in which we both had an exhilarating time, so why would I?" he teases while his smile is visibly accumulating. I take that as an advantage to elongate the conversation. I step closer, leaning my body in on the side of him to catch his tone. His soft curls flowing through the wind, but to hide his expression, he doesn't bother to push the existing curls from blocking his view.

"Then why are you smiling?" I question, poking him in his side.

"The thought of that soft chocolate serve is getting to me," he admits, still avoiding eye contact.

I lean back with a smile still on my lips while ceasing the conversation. Sebastian strolls forward-looking into each store window as we pass by, occasionally waving at the workers and the shopping customers.

"thank you," I say, referring to the text, after minutes of silence while looking down at the rhythm of our steps.

"Of course," he replies softly, pulling me to his side and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I fall into place effortlessly as the sweet laughter escaping Sebastian's lips gleams upon the gray hours and warms up my constantly cold heart.

As we walk further down the windy streets, the ice cream shop Sebastian has been babbling about all day comes to view, and he takes my hand, sprinting towards it without a given thought.

I feel myself trip over my feet a couple of times as I stare intensely at the back of him, "What the hell is the rush? I feel like I'm being dragged," I argue while my breath is being sucked out of me.

"Can't you see?" he says equally out of breath, "the shop is closing."

We finally make it there, and I pant, catching my breath so I can order appropriately, "two cups, one vanilla and one chocolate with sprinkles." Sebastian answers swiftly while I lean, holding onto my knees.

"Sorry, Mister, you're a minute short," the guy answers while switching the open sign to close.

I hear the small sigh escaping Sebastian's lips while he turns my way, "Change of plans." I lift my eyes to meet his as a disappointed Sebastian frowns down at me.

"No," I breathe, standing uptight, "I didn't waste my breath for this; I almost threw up," I grunt, pushing past Sebastian and up to the stand.

"Listen, sir; it says you close at 6:30 pm, and it just now hit that time," I argue, glancing at my wristwatch, "I can argue that you've seen us before you flipped that sign, and you know that's against your wife's policy."

"We can go somewhere else." Sebastian voices placing his hand on my shoulder.

I slightly nudge my arm away as I glare at the man ahead. He immediately starts fixing our soft serves, and I hear a light chuckle from Sebastian, which causes me to smile in my shoes.

The guy soon hands us our ice creams while Sebastian pays for them; I turn on my heels, licking the ice cream instantly as he smiles brightly at me.

"What?" I question with a mouth full of it.

"We have a tough girl here, huh" he laughs while we continue to walk down the road-the building lights beaming down on us while the sun hides behind a cloud.

I grin, pushing him to the side with my shoulders and mixing in my ice cream, "I would have committed a crime if I ran for no reason," I admit licking it once more. I feel my body float from the unfamiliar taste.

"Oh my fuck," I moan, looking over at Sebastian as he watches me with amusement.

"The best soft serve you've ever had?" He questions, with one brow raised and a smirk on his lips.

"Undoubtedly," I nod, giving it another go.

He steps ahead with a cheeky grin plastered on his mouth, walking backward with the soft serve in one hand and his other sticking out to me, he guides my eyes to his hand, and I grab ahold of it- his fingers not taking a second to wrap tightly around mine.

My breath gets caught in my throat as the area around us goes quiet, and I struggle to find suitable words to ask questions that have been lingering in my mind all day. Sebastian has only invited me out, no plans, just a — and as I quote, 'let's go out and do something, like a date.'  My mind has been clouded with what we would do tonight, but to be pretty ethical, I do not believe he had anything planned at all.

"Are we headed back the way we came?" I ask curiously as we wrap around a corner, which leads us to the way we first came.

"No," he responds, hand still wrapped around mine.

"Then where are we headed?" I continue to tease as the aching of my feet grows.

He licks a layer of his ice cream but still looks ahead and ignores my question, "Sebastian?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions," he laughs, resulting in a burning sensation to grow on my cheeks.

"Do I or do you have brain fog?" I say, a smirk appearing on my lips and Sebastian glaring back at me.

"I planned to take you to a place I used to go to as a troubled teen to unwind and relax," he admits with a subtle shake in his head.

"Troubled?" I ask, stepping ahead to walk beside him.

"Yes,"

"What do you mean?" I ask out of pure curiosity.

"What's the rush? You have all the time in the world to get to know me." I can almost hear the smile in his words.

I cock my brows and turn my head to face him; the smile I predicted, stands out amongst all the other smiles down the busy streets, "Who says I won't die tomorrow?"

"Then you'll sadly miss out on all the glory I have to offer." He smirks shooting me a wink.

"Sadly?" I question, pulling my hand from his and scooping my nearly melted ice cream.

"You're violating my right to confidence, Avery" he laughs, staring me down with a goofy grin lacing his face.

"You sure do like saying my name" I point out.

"It's a very pretty name"

I chuckle softly while staring back into his warm eyes that wanted just as much as I and suddenly, I couldn't wait to visit a place that brought him utter comfortability.