What Lies Beneath

Chapter Fourteen

(Nathaniel's pov)

"Jason."

"Hm?"

"I'm really nervous," I admitted, even though I knew Jason already knew that by now.

"There's nothing wrong with being nervous, it is your first date after four years after all."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Ok let's go before I lose my courage," I said causing Jason to chuckle.

Exiting the car, we headed in the direction of the restaurant. The Hidden Cove, which is the name of the restaurant that we were at right now, was probably the only fancy restaurant we had in town.

Walking up to the big glass double door's, I grabbed ahold of the handle, opening the door as we made our way into the building.

"Hello, how may I help you this evening?" The maitre d' asked us.

"I have a reservation for tonight."

"Name?"

"Jason Roberts."

"Ah, yes Mr. Robert's. It says here you have a party of four yes?"

"Yes."

"It looks like two of your guest have already arrived, follow me please," the maitre d' said, grabbing two menus before walking towards the dinning area.

Jason and I followed close behind, the maitre d' soon arriving at a table with two women seated at it.

"Cameran, why are they seated at a two person table when I clearly told you to seat them at a table big enough for a party of four," the man calmly said to the waiter, who looked like he was barely out of high school.

"I'm really sorry sir, we had them seated at a bigger table but, then a bigger party came in and the manager made me move them," the waiter said as the maitre d' released an annoyed sigh.

"Of course she did."

"Would it be alright if we were to seat you at separate table's?" The maitre d' asked all four of us.

Sara looked at us unsure before turning towards the man. "Um, well."

"If it's ok with Lana, then we can take the separate table," I said, I looked over to where they were seated, to see she had turned in her seat to look at us.

When my eyes made contact with hers, I felt like my heart was skipping beats. She was so beautiful, she had these stunning gray eyes, her lips held a natural pout to them. Her hair hung down in loose ringlets around her shoulder's, but I think the thing I found the most attractive about her, was that she wasn't wearing an ounce of make up.

"Nathan?" Jason questioned, bringing me out of the little trance I had been in.

"Jason it's fine, this way you and Sara can be alone and have a nice dinner together, besides Lana and I can get to know each other better without our friends butting in." I nudged Jason in the side with my elbow, making him smile.

I looked back over to Lana, to see her cheeks held a light shade of pink to them, that hadn't been there before.

"Would that be ok?"

"That would be alright," she shyly said, she leaned down, grabbing her purse from the floor, before standing from the chair.

"Lana are you sure?" Sara asked.

"It's fine." Lana gave Sara a reassuring smile, before turning towards me. Jason gave us one last look, before taking the seat Lana had been sitting in.

"Will you two please follow me then," the maitre d' said as he turned away from us, heading for the other side of the restaurant.

We followed him until we reached a more remote section of the restaurant.

"Please have a seat, your waiter will be with you shortly," he said, placing our menus on the table before leaving.

I walked up to one of the chairs, pulling it away from the table before turning to look at Lana.

"Thank you." Her cheeks turned red as she sat down in the chair, as I pushed her chair closer to the table.

"I didn't think men still did that," she said, I made my way around table to the other chair.

"Most don't, but my Momma raised me to be a gentlemen," I said, smiling at her as I took my seat, she smiled as her cheeks seemed to get a little redder.

"I'm Nathaniel by the way." I reached my hand forward.

"It's nice to meet you Nathaniel, I'm Lana." She reached forward, placing her hand in mine, lightly shaking it before letting go.

We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before she started to speak again.

"I really hope I'm not the only who's nervous right now?"

I laughed as she gave me a confused look.

"Thank God, it's not just me then," I said as her body seemed to relax a little bit.

"Like I'm not gonna lie, I probably changed my dress a hundred times tonight, just to wear the first dress I tried on." She let out this really small giggle as she stared at me.

"Don't feel bad, I probably fixed my hair that many times tonight."

"Ah, so you mess with your hair when you're nervous."

"Yes, it's a bad habit I've had since I was younger," I admitted.

"Well your hair looks very nice tonight," she said, smiling.

"Thank you, and you look very beautiful tonight."

"Thank you." She reached for her menu, flipping it open as her eyes roamed over the laminated pages.

I couldn't help but stare at her, everything about her was intriguing to me. Like the way she bit her lip when she was focused on something, or how she'd tuck her hair behind her ear when she was nervous.

"Is there something on my face?" Lana asked.

"Huh?"

"Well you're staring at me."

Oh," was all I could say, I could feel my face heating up at her comment.

We sat there staring at each other, the silence that surrounded us didn't feel awkward, in some strange way it was almost comforting.

Our eyes seemed to be speaking the words that our lips couldn't.

"Would you like to get out of here?" I asked, her lips stretched into a smile as she shook her head excitedly.

Smiling, I stood from my chair, as did she. Grabbing her hand, I led her through the restaurant, passing by the maitre d' who gave us a confused look.