Once You've Tasted Love

Chapter 4

After sleeping until nearly 12 I chilled on the sofa, checked my emails and continued searching for a job. Just as I wanted to turn off the computer, I saw a new email. It was from the company I sent my application to yesterday.
"Dear Ms. Wellington, Thank you for your application. You have very good qualifications, and we would like to interview you as soon as possible. Please come and see us on Friday at 10 am."
Wow, that sounds nice. Of course, it didn't mean that I got the job, but I had my chance now. Friday. Ok, that was in three days. Plenty of time to prepare. Speaking of plenty of time, I probably should get ready for dinner, I had about two and a half hours left.

After taking a shower and washing my hair I styled it and then put on my dress. Anna and I had chosen a navy-blue cocktail dress the evening before, which hugged my body perfectly without showing too much skin. Then I applied my make-up, not too much, I had always liked to keep it naturally, I hated girls with so much make-up and fake tan that they looked like tacky, grilled chickens. Last but not least I put on my earrings and looked into the mirror. Perfect.

Right at 6:30 the doorbell rang. I like when people are on time. I was nervous, I hoped he liked what he saw. I took my bag, put my shoes on and opened the door. My jaw dropped. There stood the most handsome man I had ever seen in my entire life. Blonde hair styled, his eyes green and sparkling (I have always loved his eyes) and he was freshly shaved, his aftershave smelled divine. He wore a dark grey suit, taking a sneaky look I could see that his trousers were tight, almost as tight as the ones he had worn during 'It Only Takes A Minute' on the Ultimate Tour, and the top buttons of his crisp white shirt were left open. 
I pulled myself together and gave him my cutest smile possible "Good evening." 
"Hello Clara. You look absolutely amazing...Wow." 
"Thank you, you look pretty handsome yourself." 
"Thank you. Here, these are for you." He gave me a bunch of pink flowers, tulips, my favourites. Blushing, I took them with a thank you and put them in some water. "Well then, shall we?" 
"After you." 

He opened me the door to his car and then went to his door. - I like it when men behave like gentlemen. -
Silence filled the car, but that was soon broken by Gary "How was your day?"
"Umm.... relaxed. Slept long and chilled out a bit, yours?" 
"Studio time basically. As you may know, we release a new album in November." 
"Oh yes, I'm really looking forward to it."
"That's nice to hear."
I felt good and I was slowly starting to relax.

We pulled up outside a fancy restaurant. Gary got out of the car and got to my side to help me out. 
"Thank you, such a gentleman you are." 
"For you, anything" he winked at me and offered me his arm. I blushed a little.

We were greeted by a waiter "Evening Mr. Barlow. Thank you for your reservation. Sir, Madame please follow me." 
He showed us our table and then asked, "Would you like some wine?" 
I looked over to Gary and he raised his eyebrow at me, waiting for an answer from me. I nodded my head, and he ordered some red. 

"Cheers Clara, I hope you like red wine." 
"Yes. I like both, red and white, I'm not that picky." 
He smiled at me "So tell me a bit about yourself." 
"Well... I'm 30 years old and moved here last weekend from Manchester." 
"Oh... so we're both northerners." 
"We are. What else do you want to know?"
"What do you work as?" 
I choked a little. This was a question I dreaded right now. What would he think of me? I mean unemployed. Can you really say that? You can but it sounds like shit, I feared he would think that I was some kind of gold-digger, searching for a rich guy, only going out with him for his money, which was definitely the last thing on my mind.
He must have sensed my hesitation to answer "Is everything alright? Did I do something wrong?" 
"Oh no. Ahem... I'm unemployed at the minute, but I have a job interview on Friday." 
"Nice", he said without any emotion and without even looking at me and I honestly felt like I fucked everything up. - Great job, Wellington. -
Luckily the waiter came over and took our order.

As he went away, I looked down onto my lap, too scared of looking at Gary, I felt too bad. I was surprised when he took my hand in his, I felt this spark of electricity that I've never felt before, but it felt amazing. 
"What's wrong?" He sounded concerned.
"Oh nothing." 
"Don't tell me it's nothing. Listen, if you think I mind that you currently are out of work, no I don't mind. You seem to me as a person who knows what she wants and not like a person who likes to be unemployed. So please stop thinking that." 
He gave me such a heart-warming smile that everything else seemed to have vanished. I couldn't help but smile back, relief washing over me and giving me a bit of confidence back.

After we finished our dessert, and when I say we, I mean Gary. I wasn't able to finish mine, but that man loves a dessert, so he finished mine. He was so adorable. We talked some more between our dishes, and we had many things in common, so the conversation went easily, we had a few laughs here and there and soon I felt as if I had known him for years. 

"Excuse me for a moment please, Gary."
"Sure. I'll wait here."

As I came back from the toilet Gary stood up and came towards me, handing me my coat. 
"You didn't pay that all, did you?" 
"I did. Please I didn't want to offend you, I did it because I wanted to." 
I blushed and looked to the ground, embarrassed "Thank you very much." 
"You know you're cute, especially when you're embarrassed", he chuckled, took my hand and pulled me out of the restaurant towards the car.

When we got back to my home, Gary helped me out of the car and walked me back to my door. 
"Thank you Gary. I really enjoyed this." 
He looked me in the eyes, and I smiled. Oh, how much I wanted to kiss him in that moment, he just looked so adorable, but I didn't want to come across as desperate. 
"No, thank you Clara. I enjoyed it also very much. I would like to repeat this soon, but only if you want to." 
My smile grew bigger "I would love to. Good night Gary." 
I hugged him, kissed his cheek and then turned around to unlock my door, but before I could turn the key around, he grabbed my wrist and turned me back to him. Before I could realise what was happening, I felt his lips against mine. It felt so beautiful, his lips were really soft and my god he could kiss. I melted into the kiss, it was only a kiss on the lips, no tongues, but it still made me weak at knees. After a few moments he pulled away and smiled down at me "I'll call you. Good night Clara."