Insanity is the Only Path to Happiness

My Awkward First Date

I kissed back.

Oh gosh. I was officially a moron. All my talk of staying strong and never thinking about him failed. Why? First and foremost, he smelled amazing; leather and lemon is apparently all a guy needs. Secondly, he was, unfortunately, attractive. I couldn't help that fact. But, the third reason was the most important. Although I had felt sparks with Max, it didn't compare to the lightning bolts striking my insides right now.

But, all good things must come to an end, and we both pulled away.

"Well, that was..." I couldn't help but trail off, hoping he would fill in the blank so I could see what he thought of it.

"Intense? Long overdue?" And the smirk was back, albeit a tiny bit softer. I rolled my eyes.

"Just because we both felt something doesn't mean we are an item now."

He looked confused. "What's an.. item?"

I mentally facepalmed. How could I have forgotten he was almost 1000 years old? Of course he wasn't going to be on point with modern slang.

"It means we aren't dating. We aren't together." I explained, but I stopped when his face fell. I felt guilty, but steeled my nerves. It was necessary for him to realize that I wasn't going to fall belly up. He had to earn my love, and my respect, and my trust. Not necessarily in that order.  Man, he had a lot of things to earn.

But, almost as soon as his mood tanked, his confidence came back. "So, if I took you on dates, then we would be.. going out?"

I nodded. "It's actually more complicated than that. It won't make us an item still, but it means I am interested in making us an item." His grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Excellent. Then let us go." He started dragging me by the arm.

"Hold up. Hold up! Where are we going?!" I was panicking, trying to get out of his hold. But, his grip continued to get tighter.

"We are going on a date, darling. Then, you'll fall for me and fate will have lost this round." He replied so casually I almost missed that last part.

"Wait, what about fate?"

He slowed down. "Look. You have died in past lives due to someone interfering. There was never a natural death. If you fall for me, and we perform the ceremony, then death won't ever part us again. Even if you were to die, I would be able to go with you. One of us wouldn't be stuck behind unless they choose to stay." His eyes were glimmering, and I couldn't see through my own tears.

"Oh, Dom." I couldn't help myself, my arms immediately flew around his middle and I crushed him to me. No one should ever have to go through anything like that; not once, not twice and definitely not repeatedly without a break. I didn't bother asking myself whether he deserved my sympathy, I just gave it.

Of course, I didn't notice him stiffening, or even wrapping his arms around me tighter than I was holding him. I was more concerned with how he wasn't completely insane. Then, I realized what he was doing.

"You sneaky little brat. You lied to me!?" He shook his head.

"Wait, I didn't..."

"You pretended to be emotionally hurt so I'd feel sorry for you, and then you have the audacity to put your grubby little fingers on me afterwards? I am so done with you!" I started stomping away, furious for no reason. I just had a sudden thought that he was lying to me, and I irrationally blew up. But now it was too late. I wasn't about to swallow my pride and turn back towards him; that would be admitting defeat. But, luckily, I didn't need to.

"Wait, Cynthia! What's going on?" He was still chasing after me, arms outstretched and a terrified look on his face.

"I can't, I feel like we just can't make this work." I confessed, feeling ashamed.