Dear Maria

Chapter 9 - Dinner

I did what the note instructed, I took a bath, I put on the clothes, and I waited until 6:44pm to make my way from my room down the stairs to greet Alex. The whole situation left me puzzled, I didn't do nice dresses and fancy shoes. I didn't wear expensive perfumes, not often at least, and I didn't wait for boys, definitely not. The sight of me wearing the dress had sent a shock down the length of my spine. It was so out of my comfort zone, but if it was what Alex had intended then I wasn't going to particularly complain.

Spraying myself a final time with the perfume, I put on my wristwatch, one that I only wore when dressed up well, and pocketed my phone, keys and also around $50 just incase in a creme coloured purse. My journey down the stairs was problematic for starters, I could just about walk in high heels. The last time I had worn heels was for an aunts wedding, and I gave up halfway through switching to some flats I put in the trunk of my moms Audi. This didn't stop me however making a valid attempt, cautious of smudging the lip gloss I'd put on if I carried on biting my lip. I was at the front door for dot on 6:45, Alex nowhere visible. It felt all like an elaborate joke, to get me wearing a dress. I couldn't help but feel like Alex would jump out from the living room or something, explaining how he just wanted to see if I'd do it. The one thing I felt gratitude towards was that the dress was long sleeved, and not so tight fitting that the ridge where my bandages ended and flesh began was visible. It helped calm me a little, make me feel slightly more content knowing the dress and tights hid visibly well my not too distant past. I thought through the high heels, perking up knowing they added at least two inches to my normal height, making me now 5'7 and almost comparable to Alex's 6'0 figure.

Then there was Alex. My eyes fixed on him as he left his room, buttoning up the sleeve of his pale blue shirt halfway, above the end of his cast. He turned to face me, a bouquet of flowers clutched under his right arm. I took in the full perspective of him as he walked down the stairs. He wore what appeared as new jeans, black and slim against his legs. His feet were covered by perhaps the smartest shoes I'd seen him in, laced neatly. Then was the top half of him; the blue shirt clung to him in the right places, and with the skinny black tie, the entire appearance of him was just appealing. His hair looked as if half a can of hairspray had been sprayed into it, it being tousled but in the right sort of way. Alex's cheeks glowed a soft pink as he reached the bottom of the stairs. 'You look stunning'. I smiled back at him, 'I could say the same about you'. He grinned foolishly, handing me the flowers and holding my hand loosely. 'The reservation is for 7:10, come on let's go'. I nodded, letting him open the front door and drop my hand for a moment, fiddling with his keys to lock the door on the provisional key my mom gave him.

I sat in the passenger side of his car, buckling in and unwinding. I needed to breathe, to relax for a moment. We were quite obviously going somewhere posh, pristine for dinner and I needed to remember how to act in such a place. I'd grown so used to going to conveniences like Wendy's and Starbucks, that the last time I'd gone for a posh meal was perhaps three years ago, the last time my family acted like a proper family. When I was younger our parents would take us out for finer meals often, every fortnight. We'd go to one of the poshest restaurants LA had to offer, and eat a meal we could comfortably afford on my parents salary. We just stopped though, when I turned fourteen and Josh 22. It wasn't as though we were unable to afford it anymore, we just used to see it as a family thing, and once dad left that stopped. We'd rarely go to fast food chains, only if we'd been out for long day trips and we wanted a quick meal. After their divorce we preferred fast food, being an easy fix that didn't require the best clothes and jewellery. A lot of things changed when dad left, I think he was the enforcer of a lot of the things we used to do, as when I go to New York visiting he still does those things, posh meals and expensive treats. I spent a lot of the journey thinking about this, forgetting almost that me and Alex were on our way to a meal, and definitely forgetting to take in the passing scenery, to see if I faintly recognised any of it.