In Time

40.

❇ Rachel's POV ❇

The shrill sound of my alarm pierced through my dreams. Without opening the eyes, my hand reached over to the side table to get my phone. I cracked open an eye to off the alarm before closing it again to sleep. Every morning I would regret sleeping late at night. I have been trying to sleep earlier because I thought I would not feel this tired whenever I wake up.

Ten minutes later my second alarm went off. I know myself too well to only ever set one. I usually set three alarms in case I missed any or I overslept after offing the first alarm. Instead of waiting for the third alarm to ring, I pushed myself out of bed and went into the bathroom.

I could not afford to oversleep and turn up late for my date with Zachary. Well, to be honest, I am super excited for our date today, maybe that's why I had trouble sleeping last night.

I stood in front of the full-length mirror, examining the red polka dot off-shoulder dress. I was still thinking if this dress fits the activities I'd planned for the day when my phone vibrated.

"Shit, he's here," I muttered under my breath.

Even though I woke up earlier this morning, I still managed to run out of time while prepping for our date. I quickly grabbed my bag and randomly selected a pair of sandals before rushing out of the house. I had to make an urgent u-turn back to my room to take the paper which listed out our activities for the day.

Zachary was leaning against his car as I walked out of my apartment building. At the sight of him instantly brought a smile to my face. Our date hasn't even started and I was already feeling really happy.

"Hi handsome," I greeted Zachary as I linked my arm through his.

"Good morning to you gorgeous," Zachary wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. He lowered his head and rested his forehead against mine.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, babe. I'm so glad the week is over and I can't wait to spend the weekend with you," he continued.

"I've got just what you need to keep your mind off of work." I grinned and took out the piece of paper. I spent most of my night designing it along with the props I needed for our date.

"C'mon let's get moving," Zachary chuckled as he opened the door for me.

After buckling my seat belt I passed Zachary the itinerary. Zachary took it and raised an eyebrow. A bemused smile spread across his lips as he scanned through the contents.

"Am I supposed to answer all the questions?" Zachary asked with a laugh.

"Of course! So what makes the tummy happy?"

"Food is the only thing that can make your tummy happy."

"Hey!" I gave him a light punch in the arm which earned me a grin.

"Alright alright, so where do we go to fill up our tummies?"

"To your favourite diner, The Golden Spoon."

The aroma of coffee greeted us as we entered the diner. Freshly baked bread was brought out from the kitchen and the staff was putting them on display. Normally, the diner would be packed with customers. But there weren't many customers when we went in, probably because it was still quite early. Zachary and I were able to get a window seat because of that.

The server came to the table and filled our cup with warm water. As we were telling her our order, I noticed that the server was leaning a little too close to Zachary. She was batting her eyelashes at him as she repeated our orders.

"If you need anything else, you know what to do," the server ended with a wink.

I made a gagging gesture and the server had the audacity to shoot me an icy glare. I simply rolled my eyes in response.