If Not For Her

Chapter 35. "Something more"

"Hey," Nicolas came behind her. "Hi," she said. Adam smiled at her and left them alone. Annabeth was waiting for Alex but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" Nicolas asked, looking around. "No idea," she looked around. "Do you mind if I drop you off?" He offered. "No, I absolutely do not mind, let me just text Alex." Annabeth  said,  he nodded and walked towards his bike. She texted Alex and walked over to him. He handed her his black helmet. She took a notice of the envious glances she got, she smiled at the people looking at them, she was petty. She sat behind him and held him by his waist. "Ready to go?" He asked
"Yes" she said.
They drove off, she rested her head on his shoulder, and she caught him smiling at her in the mirror. He definately liked her. They reached their neighborhood within exact fifteen minutes, the distance she had memorized since she was six, and for once she wished there was more. She got down. "Thank you, for giving me the ride," she said. "My pleasure," he said leaning against his bike.

"Have you checked out the new café?" Annabeth asked. "No, I haven't but I heard a lot of good things about it, how would you like to visit with me?" He asked. "I would like that very much" Annabeth said with a huge smile. "I will pick you up around...?" He asked, her heart started picking up pace. "Let's go around 5, the heat will go down by then," she said. "Hopefully," he said looking at the sky. "See you then, Bethy" he said. "Bye, Nick" she walked through her yard, waving at him.

She was finally going on a date with him. It was finally happening after weeks of her pining after him. She immediately called Chris and Adam, filling them with every detail. After a lot of thinking, she finally decided on a brown flowy dress. She left her hair as it was, applied a small amount of makeup, and finished it off with nude brown lipstick. She wore a light necklace, and she was ready to go.

As he had said, the doorbell rang at exactly 5 in the evening, Annabeth looked at the pink evening sky. Perfect. "Ollie, Nick is here" her brother called, it was more of a question. He didn't know they were going on a date. She took one last look in the mirror, took her silver watch, and headed downstairs. There he was, in a pale blue shirt and jeans. She smiled at him and turned to Alex's confused face. "I will be back in an hour to two" she said
He nodded, "don't be out too late" he shot Nick a look. She glared at him, "I won't" she walked out of the door.

"Protective isn't he?" Nick asked once they were out of Alex's earshot. "You don't even know," she said once again climbing onto his bike. "He is staring," Nick said. "Let him, I spent years watching him and Christina be couply," she said. His lips curled up and they moved forward. She held him close throughout the ride. "Here it is," Nick said, "it is like the movies" Annabethsaid, looking the cafe in front if them. "Let's see it" he gave her his hand. She took it as he opened the door for her. She still held his hand when she heard Emmalyn before she saw her.

Emmalyn's eyes were wide as the girl in front of her handed her the napkins. What was she doing here? Who was the girl? Was she her date? Was Emmalyn into girls? Annabeth's mind was filled with questions, "Bethy" she heard his voice bringing her back to reality. He pulled her a chair. Just as luck would have, they sat at the exact opposite Emmalyn's table. She saw her sitting right across from her, they both had clear view of each other and if they tried hard enough Annabeth was pretty sure they could hear the ongoing conversations at the opposite table. The girl with her turned, she was beautiful. Annabeth quickly averted her gaze and looked at Nick, a strand of black hair fell over his eyes, she should look at him, not her but she couldn't seem to get Emmalyn out of her mind.

She focused her attention back on her table, "the menu is better than most bakeries" Nicolas said but somehow she wasn't interested. Wasn't it what she wanted. A date with just her and Nicolas the cafe was perfect for their casual date but still something  felt missing. Annabeth kept glancing back at them and sometimes she met Emmalyn's eye, either of them would quickly look the other way, avoiding the other person. A waiter came to take their order. Nicolas ordered a fancy pastry, while she just asked for a latte. "Are you fine?" He finally asked, "I am sorry, it is just the headache" she swiftly lied.

"Do you want to go home and rest, we can do it any other day, it's fine" he said. She felt bad for not paying him the attention he deserved. She was on a date with him, not her. He deserved her full attention.  "I am fine," she assured. "If you feel bad, you can tell me" he said. "I know," she reached for his hand. She looked at the girl with Emmalyn getting up and Emmalyn walked after her.

"So, Nick..." she started their conversation. She glanced back and saw that girl and Emmalyn talking to each other through the glass window, the girl stood up and kissed her on the cheek. She turned back, she shouldn't intrude on their moment, but why did she seem to be so affected? Annabeth tried to focus on Nick once again he was the same, as she remembered him, happy, bubbly, comfortable in being himself, but he had grown a lot more confident and she had grown to like that about him. At the end of the date she realized, he was exactly someone she should be, he checked off her every box but what if she wanted something more? or someone else?