Six years ago, Rey Adams thought she had finally life figured out. Having broken away from her past, her life is irrevocably altered when she meets, a man who is the first person to treat her with kindness and respect. Six years later they're engage...
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Rey kept assuring herself that the evening out with Ben wasn't a date. However, as the minutes receded beyond the near 2-hour showing of Mamma Mia 2, it was becoming harder to replace the term with what she was searching for. And truthfully – Rey was no longer sure if she wanted it to not be a date as Ben led them to the chosen restaurant for the post-movie dinner.
She was starting to realize that she had become trapped in a state of continuously craving his touch. Her fingers grew anxious and fidgety if they weren't intertwined with his, whether they walked or sat alongside each other. When her hand was clasping his, their palms felt hot to the touch. It wasn't the sort of heat that typically made a person retrieve their hand away for safekeeping.
No, as a matter of fact, it was a complete and total opposite reaction.
Like a lunar moth being drawn to a light bulb at night, Rey would find herself leaning further into him. Sometimes she would have a hand, cupping beneath his forearm whilst keeping their fingers of the other hand threaded together, leaning her shoulder into his bicep if it were possible to grow closer to him. For reasons unknown, whether it was paranoia or just out of sheer need to be physically close to someone, Rey feared letting him go would only allow him to leave without giving her the allotted time to react.
Other times, like now, Rey begrudgingly settled with Ben's hand at the small of her back, urging her to be the first to pass through the iron gate of Centro's patio seating.
Strands of white LED lights draped Centro Mexican Kitchen's iron-awnings like garland during the winter holidays, casting a dream-like sort of ambiance to the overall setting. It was sincerely beautiful, charming – romantic. It was the type of scenery that would've existed in one of those cheesy Hallmark movies, enhancing the churning emotions that felt so proverbial yet foreign at the same time. It made the warmth that satiated the space surrounding her heart feel heavier, needier, to express how much Ben was coming to mean to her.
In spite of the unavoidable urge for Rey to speak such poignant words to Ben, the zesty aroma of fried peppers and beef combined with other blends of spicy food in the area was enough to keep her thoughts absorbed in other places for awhile longer. Like paying tribute to the growling in the hollow crater that was her stomach.
Rey chose a table for them at the far side of the terrace, nearest to the wrought-iron fence that lined the sidewalk opposite where pedestrians passed at their leisure. She smiled as Ben chivalrously pulled the chair out for her before claiming the seat next to hers. Who knew he could be such a gentleman? Considering he did hog most of the popcorn during the movie, but Rey gave him benefit of the doubt and blamed it on the monstrosity that were his larger than average hands rather than the size of his appetite.
At least his hands were good for other things besides sharing popcorn...
After being promptly greeted by a server to take their drink order – Ben ordering a 16oz Blue Moon and she a Long Island – Rey wasted no time inspecting choices on the menu. She had it lying open flat on the table with one arm folded over the other, one hand gently kneading her arm above her elbow. Judging by the crease that was linking her knitted brows, Rey looked as if she were about to make the biggest decision of her life.
