Sweetie You Had Me

Sweetie You Had Me Chp. 5

Jillian and Jazmin left before it was time for Ryan to pick me up. It was just Amy and I for about the next 30 minutes.

"Tell me everything when you get back. I mean you have to! No matter what happens," Amy begged.

"I'll be sure to write a novel about it when I get home," I mused.

As soon as I finished speaking, a key was shoved into the lock. The door opened and Ryan slipped through.

"Oh my gosh!" Amy squealed.

She was absolutely right.

"How do I look?" he asked spreading his arms.

He looked at Amy for a moment and then straight at me. I stood up from my bed and I saw his eyes widen a little.

"Wow..." he whispered.

I was thinking 'wow' myself. Ryan looked so... Handsome. His brown hair, which was getting longer everyday, was combed perfectly with his bangs off to the usual left side of his face. He wore a suit. A suit! In all the years we've known each other I've only seen him wear a suit a handful of times. He never used to go to school dances and we only went to prom once, with other people. Instead of going to all the dances, we normally just hung out at each others places and called it a movie night.

When Ryan did wear a suit, my gosh was it slimming! It made him look even taller and skinnier. Not that it was a bad thing at all.

I waved goodbye to Amy, grabbed a jacket, and followed Ryan to his car. When Ryan wasn't looking, Amy gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. I gave her one thumb back.

We pulled up to the restaurant and Ryan got out first. I reached into my purse to find my phone.

While I was digging in my purse I heard my door open. Ryan was holding it open like a limo driver. He peaked his head around the door and held his hand out, smiling. I stared at him a little shocked. I just expected him to wait for me like he always did. How sweet!

I grabbed his hand and he helped me out. The outside of the restaurant was decked in lights. A big spotlight lit up the entrance and smaller spotlights lined the outer perimeter of the building. A bunch of exotic green plants flanked the walls. A huge garden surrounded the building and a walkway that separated the parking lot from the actual restaurant. In the back I could see an outdoor seating area. I suggested to Ryan that we sit out there. It was still fairly warm even though the sun was nearly hidden beneath tree tops.

We walked side by side down the pathway. About midway I felt Ryan's hand hit mine. For a moment it almost felt like his hand grabbed mine. But he quickly pulled it away.

"Sorry, I was swinging my hand," I could tell he lied by the way he said it.

I just smiled. I glanced at him sideways. He was looking down at his feet and smiling. I saw his cheeks starting to glow red. I felt a sharp pang in my gut. I felt bad that he was uncomfortable.

We were seated outside like I had asked. Out back was spectacular. It was a huge gazebo with a roof like a tent that came up real high to a point in the center. A chandelier hung from that center and dangled just above our heads. We were lead to a table just off to the right of the center. I was surprised to see only two other tables filled out here.

We were waited on and served our drinks instantly. After the waiter took our dinner order, I started asking the questions.

"So why'd you want to take me here?"

He started playing with his silverware a little. Stalling. What he felt was not what he wanted to actually say. I knew I would start liking my human behavior class a little more tonight.

"I don't know. Just thought it would be nice to do something different. Instead of visiting each others dorms or seeing another movie."

Good answer. I definitely agreed with him.

"You look quite sharp in that suit," I smiled.

He looked down at his hands on the table grinning. "Thanks." he paused for a moment. "All the lights in the garden don't compare to you tonight."

I had to bite my bottom lip to keep my jaw from dropping. I hardly ever received compliments from anyone. Ever. I glanced into the garden. There had to be over 200 lights just on this side. He didn't look up the see my reaction. I guess he was afraid I wouldn't like his compliments. Even though anything he said was pure poetry.

"Thank you Ryan."

He finally looked up at me. Our eyes locked for a moment. We both seemed mesmerized. I reached midway across the table to grab my water glass. I took a drink and set it back in the same spot. My hand rested palm side down next to it. I saw Ryan lift his hand. I was expecting him to just be grabbing his water. But his hand was coming toward mine. He was just about to grab my hand. Instead of his hand, I felt icy cold water hit my skin. He knocked my water over with his shaking hand.

"Shit. Oh gosh I'm so sorry," he stood up and came over to my side of the table.

"No it's fine Ryan I got it."

The water had made its way to my lap. I stood up and and Ryan gave me my napkin. I started dabbing my dress. I reached over to grab Ryan's napkin after mine was well soaked. Instead of grabbing the napkin, my hand hit his water glass and it tipped to the floor. Water spilled all over Ryan's black slacks. I started dabbing his pants and couldn't help but laugh. He was laughing too.

"We are so smooth," I looked up at him.

We couldn't stop laughing. Our attempts at being romantic needed improvements. My cheeks were starting to hurt. We both sat back down because we couldn't stand from laughter.

"Look at us," Ryan laughed. "What is wrong with us?"

"This proves we can't be serious people."

Shortly after the laughs died down our food arrived.

"Am I seriously paying this bill?" I asked when the check came around.

"Absolutely not," Ryan laughed. "I was just joking about that. It's way too expensive to pay for two."

We walked through the garden on the same pathway we came. We were walking closer to each other, and I could feel Ryan's hand hover on my lower back. I felt the warmth of his hand radiating through my spine.

"I had a good time," I told him.

He smiled and took his hand off my spine. I felt his arm wrap around my shoulder. He pulled me close and we walked like that to the car. I noticed the whole way back to campus he was biting his lip and he got a little uncomfortable at red lights. I could tell there was some kind of decision being made in his head.

He walked me back to my room. We stood in front of the door. "I had a great time," I said. "I like this new fancy Ryan."

He laughed and looked me in the eyes. He bit his lip again. I could feel my stomach turn and my nerves start to tingle. He reached down, but only to give me a hug. It lasted about 5 seconds. A little longer than most of our hugs. When we let go, I found that our faces were really close. We looked at each other again, and then separated a little more.

"Goodnight," he whispered.

"See you tomorrow."

Ryan left before I opened the door to my room. Amy was sitting up on her bed grinning excitedly.

"Did you guys kiss? Are you dating now?" she went straight for the big questions.

Her grin turned into a sad frown when I shook my head. I laughed and told her about the whole night like I promised.