Bitter (wlw) (txs)

seventeen

I checked my appearance in the mirror beside my front door one last time before leaving the house.

Sam said she'd take care of where to go for dinner without telling me too much about it, but she told me not to "dress too casual".

I was wearing a baby blue shirt tucked into beige tailored pants, matched with my converse shoes. I only used to wear red lipstick on special rare occasions, but I felt like that was one of them. By then my hair had grown past my shoulders, and I decided to let it loose even if I'd been tying it up lately.

Once I put my coat on I headed out, waiting for Sam in the building's parking lot.

I might have seriously stopped breathing for a few seconds when she appeared in front of me, wearing a knee-length tight fitting burgundy dress, revealing enough for her cleavage to be exposed. Her hair was tied up into a bun and she was also wearing red lipstick.

"You good there?" she suddenly laughed.

"Oh, uhm, yeah. Hi!" I cleared my throat. "You look...good" I added, still partially choking on my own words.

"Likewise" she said, walking towards me. "Thought you'd stopped breathing for a second"

"What? No" I felt heat radiating to my cheeks.

"Whatever" she chuckled. "Let's get going"

She drove us to the place we were supposed to be going to, and it took all of me to actually have a conversation and not just focus on how all of the situation felt positively surreal, while still trying to recover from how good she looked.

From the moment we drove into one specific neighborhood I realized how we were probably going somewhere I would have never dreamed of being able to afford.

And that was confirmed once we parked in front of what looked like a really fancy restaurant.

"Here we are" Sam said as she opened the car door, proceeding to open my side's one for me.

We entered the place, Sam's hand in mine, as an elegantly dressed man approached us to ask if we had a reservation.

The restaurant was intimate and elegant, a dim light filled the room full of tables covered by white cloth.

"Collins" she told him, as he pointed towards a two-seater table.

"You've been awfully quiet ever since we left" she pointed out as we sat down. "You alright?"

"I'm good. More than good, actually. This is just...an unusual setting for me to be in" I said.

"Well, let me treat you for tonight" she placed her hand on top of mine, which was resting on the table. "I made sure to find a place that had good vegetarian options, I'd have hated to take you somewhere you couldn't enjoy the food"

"I appreciate that a lot, actually" I smiled. I could sense she was trying to make me feel as less out of place as possible, which I genuinely did appreciate.

I always tended to become even shyer than I already was when I was around Sam in public, I couldn't figure out the exact reason. Maybe I subconsciously feared that other people saw how vulnerable she made me feel.

Sam turned out to be right about the food, which was incredibly good. Two hours passed by really quickly, and by the end of the meal I could barely remember how anxious I was feeling earlier.

Her hand didn't leave its spot on top of mine, unless when picking up her wine glass to drink, which I didn't want to say anything about out loud. I didn't want to ruin the evening by talking about a potentially sensitive matter for her.