Tempting /A Jordan Knight fanfic ✔️

20

Chapter 20: Date Night

"So, on a scale of zero to the best Italian food you've ever had, how would you rank dinner?"

"Well," I turned in the passenger seat to face Peter, locking eyes on his handsome profile. "The restaurant was beautiful. Like, picture perfect out of a movie, and as far as the food, I feel like I'll have a food baby for a week after all of that pasta. I knew I was full but I literally could not stop eating, it was so good!"

Peter quirked an adorable eyebrow up at me, glancing from the road to me. "Food baby?"

"Yeah." Probably not the sexiest thing to mention on a first date, dummy. "It's when you eat so much food that you feel and sort of look like you're three months pregnant. My friends in New York used to say it all the time."

"Do you miss your friends in New York?"

"Some of them. Mostly just my dance partner, Gabe, but he's already come down to visit once, and he's going to start coming down more as it gets closer to our December competition."

Peter turned into my neighborhood, lightly drumming his fingers along the steering wheel.

"So, do they sell, um, tickets to that competition or...?"

I smiled at his nervous tone, and also at how slow the houses and streets began to pass by as we drove through my neighborhood.

"They do sell tickets."

Peter side-glanced at me, a dashing half smile rising to his lips. "I'd love to see you dance sometime."

For the first time tonight, I felt the quell of butterflies flutter through my stomach. The spark shining in his kind brown eyes and that easy smile combined with those words created the feeling I'd been searching for all night long.

Excitement. Giddiness. Chemistry.

"Are you propositioning me, Peter?" I asked, shifting into my best flirtatious voice.

"What?" His eyes shot open wide, and he quickly fumbled over his next words. "No, not at all."

"Oh," I forced a laugh, feeling any spark between us deflate with the moment. "I was just joking."

Peter visibly relaxed. "Oh, okay."

I gave him another reassuring smile before turning my head towards the car window to hide the crushing disappointment I could feel weighing down my stare.

All night long, all throughout dinner, I'd been waiting to feel that something. That something inside that you didn't even realize was there until the right person wakes it up and suddenly, you feel more alive than you ever knew you could.

Just now, I thought I felt it.

I thought that somewhere between his winning smile and charming words, I'd felt the rise of life start inside me. It was such a small misunderstanding moment between us that it shouldn't have mattered. I should have been able to chalk it up to a joke that didn't go well or an attempt at flirting that wasn't received, but I couldn't.

I couldn't do anything but think about how stupid Jordan would have reacted to my attempt at flirting. He would have caught on right away and played along. He would have said that yes, he was propositioning me to dance and probably asked if I accepted cash or credit and maybe even slipped me a dollar bill.

I would have laughed and blushed, and the moment would have been perfect and scrapbooked into my memory forever.

Instead, it was awkward and lame and I just wanted to forget it ever happened so I could stop thinking about Jordan. Tonight was about moving on from him and wondering how he'd be on this date was the exact opposite of that.