Life slips through our hands

Chapter 10

It was Tuesday. Nina was waiting for Charles in her living room. He was going to pick her up at 2 p.m to have lunch together. She wondered if the date was going to go well. The last time she had a date, it was a total disaster. Every time she remembered that guy's face, she felt sick. She ditched that thought quickly. It was going to be a good date.

On Friday night, when she agreed to go out with him, Charles couldn't believe it. She brought it up from nowhere and surprised him.

Charles was driving to her house now. He booked a table in advance for them. He was in super high spirits that day.

"I'm outside", he texted Nina.

She soon came out. She was wearing a sky-blue dress and white sneakers, Charles stared at her while she was getting closer; she looked cute. Nina got in the car.

"Hi", she greeted.

"Hi. Are you hungry?"

"A bit. Where are we going?", she asked back.

"To an Italian restaurant", he answered.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the restaurant. Nina was a bit anxious but felt relieved when she saw their destination. It was not a luxurious restaurant as she feared, it was quite normal instead.

They went inside and Charles went to the counter. The cashier said something to one of the waiters and he guided them to their table. Nina was impressed; she didn't expect him to make a reservation. She thought it was a nice detail.

"May I take your order?", the waiter came back.

"I'll have lasagna and a raspberry lemonade, please", said Nina putting the menu away.

"Fettuccini with bontue sauce and ginger lemonade for me. Thank you". The waiter nodded and left.

"Were you training this morning?", asked Nina.

"Yeah. This semester might be hard so I'm enjoying myself as much as I can".

"Oh... I see. It'd be great if you can stick to it this semester too. As far as I know, you really like it".

"I do", he smiled. "I'll see after having my classes' schedule done. There's still a month or so before that".

"Fair enough".

"What about you? Are you in any club at school?"

"I used to be in the tennis club but I left in my second year".

"Why? Did you get tired of it?"

"No, I really like it. I just lacked the time to train properly", she said. "You have to add the loads of work Adela gives me and that playing tennis is hellish expensive", she added in her head.

"We can go and play sometime. I've played a bit too", he suggested.

"Oh, really? That'd be fun".

The waiter came with their drinks. They kept talking about random stuff until the food arrived.

"God, this is so good", said Nina taking another bite of lasagna.

"Glad you like it. This is my favorite Italian restaurant".

"I can understand why". She was eating happily.

Lunchtime was really nice and they learned a bit more about each other too. They talked about movies, food, and pets. Charles was a cat person and so was Nina. They ended up watching some funny cat videos on the girl's phone.

The waiter went to offer them dessert. But they were too full for anything at the moment so Charles asked for the bill. He was going to pay when Nina started to complain. After arguing for a couple of minutes, Charles paid against Nina's will.