A Disaster in Paradise

Chapter 12

Sophia

I walk over to the door, and open it. "Hey Soph." Jay walks in, closing the door behind him. "You look really nice tonight." He rubs the back of his neck.

I look down at my blue dress, knowing he loved me in blue, and my silver heels. "Thankyou, you look handsome yourself." I smile.

"You ready to go?" Jay holds out his arm, and I take it, joining it with mine.

We walk into the restaurant, and take our reservations Jacob set up for us. "You did really good today, Soph." Jay looks up from his menu and smiles.

"Thank you. I can't wait to see you start tomorrow." I decide on what to get for the evening.

Jay rubs his leg against mine. "Having you there will make it a lot easier." He takes a sip of his tea, his eyes never leaving mine.

I can barely breathe.. "Same here. You always have my back, know what to say." I grin.

"I'm your server, Haley, what can I get you tonight?"Her ginger hair falls back as she takes out her notepad.

"I'll just have the spaghetti platter, with a side of mozzarella sticks." I look over to Jay, who is focusing on the menu. A man and his food.

"I'll just take the Tiramisu."Jay hands over the menus, and the waitress disappears. "You're not paying for this either, Sophia." Jay raises his glass.

"Oh please, I already took care of it." I lied. Jacob insisted he paid for the meal, a "welcome to dating gift."

Jay rolls his eyes. "Soph, you didn't need to do that. You know how I feel about that."

I hold back a laugh. "Very funny, Jay. Starting tonight, I'm doing things different. For the better." I put my head on my hand, my arm propping it up, smiling.

"For the better, huh? Like what?" Jay's knee collides against mine once more, and he flashes a mischievous grin, knowing exactly what he is doing.

I bite my tongue. Do I really want to say this? Do I want this? Yes. "I think we both know what I'm talking about, Jay." I bite my tongue. I actually said it.

"Here is your food, guys. Anything else?" Jay was just about to open his mouth, as Haley brought our food.

"No, we are good, thank you." Jay nods, waiting for her to be out of earshot. "When we leave, we are going straight to your place, understood?" He whispers, pointing his fork to me.

"Yes." I grin, taking a bite of spaghetti. "I know you are wondering, Olivia is staying with Isaac and Jacob tonight, so don't worry, we will have the whole room to ourselves."

Jay sighs in relief. "Good."

A few minutes go bye with a comfortable silence, consisting of us staring at each other, never taking our eyes off of each other.

"Jay,what was your first expression when you found me? If you don't mind me asking." Passing time has always been an issue for me. Especially right now.

"My first expression?" Jay takes another sip of his water. "Soph, words can't explain how relieved and scared I was. I was relieved to know I found you. Alive. You were back. I missed you so much in those three days, baby. So much. I was more angry than scared, truthfully. I saw you, all the bruises. If only I got to meet the people who did this too you, Soph. I wanted to kill them for hurting my girl. We are lucky Steve was there to stop me from going to pay them a visit. But honestly, my first thought was to cry. I have never been more scared in my life. They.. they hurt you, baby. They beat you. I'm thankful to God that you're safe here."Jay reaches across the table, gripping my hand.