euphoria // l.l

two

i followed douglas to his car, where he opened the passenger door for me and then quickly walked over to the driver side.

the first five minutes of the ride neither of us knew what to say and it was awkwardly silent. just when i was deciding to break the silence douglas spoke, "did i mention you look gorgeous?"

i could feel heat moving up my neck and i knew i was blushing, but i tried to play it off, "no, i don't think you mentioned that."

"well you look beautiful adalia," he stated in that breathtaking accent.

"thank you, you don't look so bad yourself," i said and he let out a deep chuckle. "where are we going exactly?"

"i wasn't sure what you would like, but i figured not to fancy, not to casual. i thought we could go to the olive garden if that's okay with you?"

it was so adorable how he could seem so confident but then seem so nervous.

"that sounds perfect."

the rest of the ride was silent, but not the awkward silence from before, but a peaceful silence.

we arrived at the restaurant and i was about to get out of the car when douglas stopped me.

he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "i want to open the door for you."

the corner of my lips turned up into a smile and i felt that blush creep up my neck once again.

douglas rushed out of the car and to the passenger side to open the door for me. he grabbed my hand and we walked into the restaurant together.

douglas quickly spoke to the hostess and she directed us to a table. we sat at a small booth in the corner, me on one side and douglas directly across from me.

we small talked for a little while asking typical questions like 'how are you?' and 'how've you been?' when the waitress came over and took our order.

so far this date that i had been waiting so anxiously for was not going how i expected. then as if reading my mind douglas said, "how about a game of 20 questions?"

this was typical for a high school date. it was a way to get to know someone and have a little fun.

i wasn't really expecting douglas to know it but after all he has been living in america for three years.

i figured most the questions would be related to relationships in general so i braced myself for talk about heartbreaks and lost loves.

of course he starts by asking, " what was your first kiss like?" i cringed at the thought.

"what's wrong?"

"nothing," i paused for a moment, "it's just not the best memory."

"oh..you uh don't have to tell me then," he rambled on.

"no, no douglas it's fine. this is 20 questions i have to be honest."

he nodded for me to continue. i took in a deep breathe and just let it all fall from my lips. " it was my dad's boss. i was eleven years old. andy was at his friends house and my mom and dad were on a date so he was watching me. we were watching some movie and then it came to a romantic scene. he must have got horny or something," i paused as a tear fell from the corner of my eye, "because he straddled on top of me and started kissing my neck. he then moved up to my lips and practically shoved his tongue down my throat. then the phone rang, and thank god it did because i have no idea how far he would have went. it was my brother who got sick and had to come home from his friend's house. before we left to pick up andy he told me that if i ever told anyone what he did he would make it seem even worse on my part, so i didn't tell anyone. two years later when i was thirteen i told my mom, who then told my father. he thought it was all his fault. my dad said he couldn't just give up his job and left. he said he was 'protecting us'," i used air quotes to prove my point, i was bawling now. "i've never saw him since. sure, we kept in contact for a little while but after about a year i gave up on trying to bring him back."

it was silent for a few minutes, when he finally said, "it's not your fault."

"what?" i questioned.

"i can tell you're still beating yourself up about this but it's not your fault he left. you had no idea what he would do when he found out, and it's his fault he's not here for you today. don't worry about it. he's probably lonely and depressed without you guys, but look, you're here now and you're perfect."

i blushed, not sure what to say. the waitress then came over and placed our food in front of us. i frantically brought my hands up to my face and wiped away the mascara that i knew would be all over my cheeks.

once the waitress had left i spoke, "thank you so much," i sobbed," i'm sorry, i probably look awful right now."

i was about to excuse myself from the table to use the bathroom when douglas spoke again in his glorious accent, "you still look stunning."

i smiled again for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight as we finished our meals.

after eating our meals we forgot about our little game of 20 questions to avoid anymore breakdowns and decided to share a dessert. we chose a chocolate lava cake and laughed as we fed it to each other.

it was only 9 o'clock so we decided to go back to douglas's place and hang out a while.

since he's 18 he's old enough to own his own apartment. when we got there we thought we should watch a movie.

we chose to watch frozen because douglas had never seen it before and i was excited to watch it. he told me i was ridiculous for being so anxious to watch a children's movie but i didn't care.

we laughed throughout the whole movie as he made fun of me for crying when elsa froze anna's heart.

when the movie was over we put on the late night reruns of friends and talked for what seemed like hours. i finally started drifting to sleep on douglas's chest.

he must've thought i was asleep and covered me with the blanket. then he whispered into my ear, "i had a great time tonight," and left kisses on my forehead and cheeks. i fell asleep with a smile on my face and dreamed of a boy with an english accent and gorgeous smile.